Blown away by a 10 percent increase in windstorm insurance rates for the Coastal Bend, local chambers of commerce and elected representatives have formed a new group to fight what they consider unfair and inequitable rates. Calling themselves Coastal Bend United, the group of six chamber presidents and about 50 other people who attended an organizational meeting Aug. 7 are planning a rally, lobbying efforts to rescind the current rate increases by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, and new legislation to prevent further increases.
“We are still in recovery mode,” Cleo Rodriguez, president of the United Coastal Bend Chamber of Commerce, told Corpus Christi Business News after the meeting. “Now is not the time to impact us further by increasing rates for windstorm insurance.”
The 10 percent rate increase announced by TWIA after its July 31 meeting is not the only increase that will hit homeowners looking to renew after Jan. 1, 2019. The TWIA board also included a 4 percent cost-of-living increase. TWIA is a residual carrier: a government-sponsored insurance company of last resort for people living in areas that private carriers won’t insure. Locally, that includes Padre Island, Port Aransas, Rockport, Fulton, and Aransas Pass.
“They adjust that [cost of living] every year,” said Greg Smith, Corpus Christi City Council member for District 4. “They never make a big deal out of announcing that. Coastal residents are actually going to be hit with a 14 percent increase.”
WINDS OF CHANGE
While local state representatives and senators begin work on legislation for the 86th legislative session, which convenes Jan 8, 2019, chamber presidents are organizing a protest rally. Tentatively set for Aug. 20, no time or place has been determined.
“It will be before the end of the month, and we are going to use a backdrop of a space to show an example of where we are a year after the hurricane,” Rodriguez said. “We want to create a rally opportunity to really start to rally the community around supporting a legislative push in January.”
The main goal is to get the word out across the state to those who visit the Coastal Bend and maybe own vacation homes here and those who live here and are still trying to collect insurance to repair their homes from the last storm.
State Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) has already written letters to Texas Department of Insurance Commissioner Kent Sullivan asking him not to approve the rate hike. TWIA’s actions must be approved by the commissioner before they can take effect.
Working with other local state-elected officials, Hunter outlined some of the options on the table for new legislation.
“One of our legislative decisions is to change the (TWIA) board makeup,” he said. More than half of the nine representatives are from the insurance industry and do not live along the coast. The board is made up of industry representatives, coastal representatives, and inland representatives. Hunter wants more board members with skin in the game.
That imbalance of representation became an issue at the July 31 TWIA meeting. The rate increase was approved by a 5-4 vote. All the “no” votes had coastal connections, while all the “yes” votes did not.
Prior to that vote the Port Aransas City Council passed a resolution and sent it to the Texas attorney general and the State Board of Insurance asking officials to investigate the “slow, low, and no insurance payments from damages resulting from Hurricane Harvey.”
Hunter and Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal sent letters to TWIA Chairman Joshua Fields asking him to reject any increases prior to the July board meeting. Fields was one of the four “no” votes.
“Many Hurricane Harvey-impacted communities continue to struggle with rebuilding and insurance, and FEMA claims remain unresolved, so repairs, restoration, and revitalization of homes, businesses, and communities are incomplete,” Neal wrote. “It is insensitive and unnecessarily cruel to dump a significant premium rate increase on these policyholders while they continue to rebuild their lives.”
Corpus Christi Mayor Joe McComb also wrote to Fields before the vote.
“Just the idea of TWIA even considering a premium increase less than a year post-event sends a terrible message about TWIA,” McComb wrote. “There are other and better ways to achieve the goal of generating revenues to pay claims that will not put recovering communities at a disadvantage and compound their frustration while trying to get their lives back in order.”
Anyone wanting to get involved with the rally or other efforts to roll back the rates can do so by calling the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce offices at (361) 881-1800, said Chamber President Rodriguez.
“There’s a perception out there that we are fine, and the reality is that there are still a lot of businesses and families out there still trying to recover from Harvey,” Rodriguez said. “We have to highlight that as much as we can.”