Leadership Needed to Combat Windstorm Rate Hike

The start of the hurricane season is focusing attention on the continuing need for windstorm insurance reform, especially in how the Texas Wind Storm Insurance Association does business.

More than two years after Hurricane Rita, families and small businesses are still waiting for state aid. Yet some Austin politicians are suggesting that we let the state’s windstorm insurance pool use unreliable forecast modeling to justify record rate increases.

Such “scientific-sounding mumbo-jumbo” is of “dubious honesty,” says a report in today’s Galveston County Daily News. Forecast modeling allows the insurance industry to predict hurricane disasters and raise rates accordingly, with no accountability but plenty of questions about the accuracy of the forecasts.

Bringing down windstorm rates by injecting true competition into the current dysfunctional system will be one of my top priorities in the Texas Senate. District 11 residents and businesses need affordable and adequate windstorm insurance. After all, when our coast is protected, Texas benefits.

Posted on June 5, 2008 | Return to the Latest News Archive