Last week, Governor Abbott signed House Bill 769 which I authored to add increased ratepayer protections and help prevent rate increases for Texans with Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) insurance policies. This bill stipulates that the TWIA board may not consider a rate increase if there is a vacancy on the board and prevents the association from purchasing reinsurance from insurers or brokers who conduct risk modeling for the purpose of selling reinsurance. This important change removes a blatant conflict of interest that harms ratepayers through higher reinsurance costs. I am glad the Governor signed this into law.
In addition to House Bill 769, several other TWIA reforms made it into law this session, including:
- Senate Bill 1448: Requires a two-thirds majority vote of the board to approve a rate increase and continues the TWIA funding study for a further two years.
- House Bill 3564: Prevents the Texas Department of Insurance from rescinding a windstorm certificate of compliance once it has been issued for an improvement.
- House Bill 2920: Requires TWIA to adopt a Grace Period of up to 10 days for the payment of premiums for renewal of a policy.
GOLF CART AUTHORIZATION BILL BECOMES LAWLast week, Governor Abbott signed House Bill 1281. This bill included language I added that authorizes Galveston and Chambers counties to permit the operation of golf carts on county roads in unincorporated areas. This bill received the support necessary to make it effective immediately, meaning that it is now the law of the state. I am glad that residents of our coastal counties now have the ability drive their golf carts around the community.
