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6 Investigates Follows-Up: Windstorm Insurance funding again under scrutiny

Posted at 6:39 PM, Feb 19, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-19 19:47:05-05

 

A report by the state Sunset Advisory Commission, now helping shape legislation, again highlights the ‘inherent tension’ within the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association’s funding structure.

The report, released to lawmakers in January, is an overview of the state’s hail- and windstorm-insurer of last resort for more than 200,000 properties on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Among the commission’s many observations are that, according to TWIA actuaries, residential premiums should be about 32-percent higher than they are, now, and commercial rates should be about 37-percent higher than they are now.

Important note: The commission is not the decision-maker. That responsiblity falls to the legislature, as the policy-making body responsible for creating TWIA, in the first place. The study notes “TWIA‘s long-term stability and financial health ultimately depend on legislative action,” and that, post-Harvey, “TWIA is broke, in debt, and facing a shrinking revenue pool.”

 ​Texas A&M Corpus Christi’s Jim Lee also weighed in on the report. Read his comments, here.

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