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FOLLOW STATUS OF BILLS
The current status of all House and Senate
Bills can be tracked at
Alabama Legislative Information System Online.
On the opening page, check top left hand tab
for Session selected; to change session, click on tab, select desired session, and click set. Click Bills
and then click Status. This will take you to a page where you can
enter the bill number. After you type in the bill number, click
Get Status. The next page you see will give you a summary of
status. Click on the bill number. Then the top bar will
flash (a maroon color). Click on View, a window will pop up and
you can read the bill.
Original Post
LIST OF BILLS TO REFORM HOMEOWNERS'
INSURANCE SPONSORED BY LOCAL LEGISLATORS SINCE 2007
Click here
to see a list of all the bills sponsored or introduced by our
local senators and representatives, Brooks, Pittman, Faust &
McMillan. The majority of these bills never made it out of
committee, blocked by upstate legislators, especially Democrats,
and heavy lobbying by the insurance industry.
Posted 11/16/2011
NEW UPDATE TO CLARITY BILL
At some point soon, HHII will have to make an official presentation of
their recommended solutions to the Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission though
its representative, Michelle Kurtz. One of these solutions
will be the Clarity Bill, introduced at the last session by
Senator Ben Brooks as SB2.
Since then, HHII has given additional thought to the wording of
this Bill. One significant change is the addition of a
sentence which says, in essence, that the historical data the bill produces must be used by the Alabama Department of Insurance to enforce premium fairness statewide.
Please read the updated bill
and leave your comments on the
HHII Discussion Forum.
Updated 11/1/2011
PROPERTY INSURANCE
CLARITY BILL (SB2 2011)
Text, status, and comments about this Bill,
which HHII strongly supports, can be found in detail under
Legislative News/Insurance
Bills/Clarity Bill (SB-399)
Alabama lawmakers pass bills to create tax deduction for strengthening homes against storms
Jeff Amy, Press-Register Jun 3, 2011 -
Read original item
State lawmakers passed bills Thursday that would create a tax deduction for strengthening homes against hurricanes and tornadoes, set up an Insurance Department trust fund for retrofitting homes, and require that insurers publicly disclose information when they ask regulators for rate changes.
Posted 6/3/2011
Alabama legislature approves hurricane retrofit bill
A fund that could allow coastal residents to retrofit their homes for hurricanes, without having to personally pay for the improvements, was approved by the Alabama Legislature on Thursday.
The Strengthen Alabama Homes Fund has no current revenue stream, but the bill’s sponsor anticipates that fine money from the Gulf oil spill and federal grants will eventually provide retrofitting dollars.
Read
George Altman's complete 5/6/2011 article at Al.com
Posted 5/6/2011
State Senate approves hurricane retrofitting fund
The state Senate approved a bill Wednesday to create a fund that could accept oil spill fines, federal grants and money from other sources and give those dollars to homeowners seeking to retrofit their property to better withstand hurricanes.
The proposal does not allocate money from any particular sources to help homeowners with retrofitting costs. It only creates a place to hold money for this purpose, should dollars become available later.
Read
George Altman's
complete 4/28/2011 article at
Al.com
Posted 4/28/2011
Coastal insurance bills pass Senate committee after unusual procedure
A handful of coastal insurance bills passed a state Senate committee Thursday afternoon but only after most of them were voted down by the same committee in a morning meeting and then resurrected to get a rare second chance to advance.
Bills approved out of Senate Committee include:
SB 7, which would require insurers to notify their customers about premium discounts available if they retrofit their homes to make them more hurricane-resistant.
SB 389, which would create a state fund that could accept money from federal or private grants, as well as potential oil spill fines, and then dole it out to homeowners seeking to retrofit their homes.
SB 395, which would give homeowners who retrofit their property an income tax deduction.
SB 396, which would provide tax breaks to companies that insure homeowners currently covered by the state insurer of last resort, the Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association.
SB 400, which would provide tax benefits for property owners who open special disaster savings accounts to pay for storm damage.
SB 2, the HHII Clarity Bill, was not considered.
Read
George Altman's complete 4/22/2011 article at
Al.com
Posted 4/22/2011
LATEST REVISION TO HB713
Bill to renamed
The Legislative Engagement Committee has
whittled the bill into the form that is
attached. Anyone who has time, please read and
make final comments. You can read all the previous bills
and submit comments on the
HHII Discussion Forum.
Posted 11/30/2010
REVISED TRANSPARENCY BILL (HB713)
Read revised version of HB713
and suggested revisions
which will be incorporated before Bill is introduced in 2011
legislative session.
Posted 11/20/2010/
Shortcoming of the HB713 Transparency Bill:
Comments of Charles Angell as a member of the CRCAL Insurance Subcommittee.
Comments do not necessarily reflect the position of the AL Department of Insurance or the Insurance Commissioner.
Reposted 5/7/2011
HHII supported insurance bills introduced
& killed
in Alabama Legislature regular session 2010
At State Senator Lowell Barron's direction, the
Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted down
all six coastal insurance
bills on March 31, 2010, making it unlikely that the Legislature will pass any
more homeowners insurance overhauls in 2010
HB248
This bill would require
homeowners insurance coverage for primary residences located throughout
the state to be all-risk and sold at a level premium rate.
HB249
This bill would
require homeowners insurance coverage for primary residences located
throughout the state to be all-risk and sold at not more
than 50% difference in premium rate per thousand sold.
HB250
This bill would require
homeowners insurance coverage for primary residences located throughout
the state to be all-risk and sold at not more
than 100% difference in premium rate per thousand sold.
HB713 This bill would create the
Department of Insurance Transparency Act.
It would require insurance companies transacting business in the state
to provide policy and premium information to the Department of
Insurance. The bill
would require the department to provide on the department website
aggregate data of the number of homeowner’s insurance policies and the
total dollar amount of premiums collected and claims pending or paid
representing the total of every insurance company doing business in
Alabama. The bill would also require the department to post on the
department website a comprehensive description of the actuarial model
used by the department for homeowner’s risk and other related data.
SB534 This bill would create the
Department of Insurance Transparency Act.
It would require insurance companies transacting business in the
state to provide policy and premium information to the
Department of Insurance. The bill
would require the department to provide on the department website
aggregate data of the number of homeowner’s insurance policies and the
total dollar amount of premiums collected and claims pending or paid
representing the total of every insurance company doing business in
Alabama. The bill would also require the department to post on the
department website a comprehensive description of the actuarial model
used by the department for homeowner’s risk and other related data.
SB573
This bill would prohibit the
Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association
from using the term beach pool in any document or electronic material
referencing the association.
Original Post
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Chances for coastal insurance overhauls uncertain
on eve of legislative session
From 2/5/2012 article by George Altman, MPR Washington Bureau
Alabama has seen the election of a new governor pledging to address insurance problems, a dramatic switch in balance of power in the state Legislature and the creation of a special commission dedicated to property insurance issues.
Yet despite all of the changes, the coastal insurance debate in 2012 is playing out much as it has in years past.
Grass-roots activists in Mobile and Baldwin counties are calling for insurance companies to provide more information, more widely available coverage and lower rates for homeowners in south Alabama. Insurance companies will likely oppose such legislative efforts. And on the eve of the 2012 legislative session, which begins Tuesday, the prospects for significant changes to state insurance law remain uncertain.
There seems to be widespread agreement on at least one point: Despite his 2010 pledge to call a special legislative session on insurance, Republican Gov. Robert Bentley has been wise not to call that session yet.
"There’s no point in having a special session until you’ve got your solution," said Dan Hanson, a leader of the Homeowners Hurricane Insurance Initiative, a south Alabama group that has been one of the staunchest advocates for sweeping changes to state insurance laws. "At this stage, there’s no agreement on what will fix the problems."
State Sen. Ben Brooks, a Mobile Republican who has become one of the leading voices on coastal insurance, said that "one of the leading components" of the package — and a top priority for the Homeowners Hurricane Insurance Initiative — is a bill that would force insurers to publicly disclose the number of policies they write, the premiums they charge and the losses they incur in a statewide database. The index would be searchable by zip code, he said.
Insurers have strongly opposed that so-called clarity bill in the past, and Russell wasn’t optimistic about its chances in 2012.
"I think that would be extremely difficult to get through. I don’t think the insurance industry is going to support that," he said.
"I don’t quite understand the dynamics of — well, for example, our scheduling. Once a month just doesn’t do it," said Michelle Kurtz, a member of the Homeowners Hurricane Insurance Initiative who also sits on the commission. "There’s a lack of energy or engagement."
Read complete article at al.com
Posted 2/5/2012
TELL REP. FAUST WHAT YOU THINK
Click on links posted below, read the articles published in the
1/18/2011 MPR, and consider calling Rep. Joe Faust's office
(990-4615) with your reaction. Ask him why he is not supporting the Clarity Bill? Let him know that you are disappointed and that he has said to our faces that he supports the bill, but he is not doing it publicly.
If you just want to leave a message, try calling after 5pm.
$15,000 DEDUCTIBLE!!! Another loan and a mortgage!!!! Would this work for you?
Baldwin leads by adopting new plan
Helping Baldwin County homeowners help themselves
Modified 1/28/2012
Post-tornado law would allow Alabama residents
to hire private insurance adjusters
Read
complete 1/6/2012 Birmingham News article by Robin DeMonia
State insurance officials and others are working on legislation that would let Alabamians with insurance claims hire their own adjusters, clarifying what has been a gray area of the law.
If passed, there'd be no question Alabamians could hire so-called public adjusters to help establish the scope of their losses and probably get more money from their insurance companies.
The tradeoff, according to a national insurance trade group that opposes the idea, would likely be higher insurance rates.
"Public adjusters are unnecessary and do more harm than good because they drive up costs," said Monique Kabitzke, the Southern regional manager for the Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America.
The role of public adjusters has been debated in the state in the past, but the discussion has become more pointed since the devastating tornado outbreak last April, which generated more than 117,000 claims totaling at least $2.2 billion.
Legislation was proposed last year to license and regulate public adjusters in Alabama, but it was dropped because of objections from the Alabama State Bar. Now, the Bar is working with state insurance regulators and industry groups on a compromise measure for the legislative session starting in February.
"The reality is that there are public adjusters in Alabama, but we don't know how many because there is no law that compels their registration," said Ragan Ingram, chief of staff at the Insurance Department. "A law would provide standards of education and training and would allow the state to know who is assisting Alabama consumers."
Alabama is one of six states with no law regarding public adjusters, who work for policyholders as opposed to insurance companies. All of Alabama's neighboring states license public adjusters; Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee passed laws after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters said the absence of a law doesn't mean adjusters can't work legally in Alabama. But it does leave them operating on uncertain and unregulated ground.
Rose Hill of Pratt City said she'd never heard about public adjusters before a tornado hit her home April 27. She became a fan when an acquaintance hooked her up with Dean Cavalieri, a public adjuster from Florida who helped convince State Farm that her damaged house should be demolished.
"Having a public adjuster was a big help to me," she said. "The tornado, this was my first time being in one. There was a lot of stuff for me to handle that I wasn't prepared for."
More
Posted 1/6/2012 (Hat tip to Stan Virden)
No silver bullet for Alabama's insurance crisis
By BEN BROOKS
Special to the Press-Register
Homeowners insurance reform must be a rallying cry for all citizens in our region and our state. We are all aware of the immense negative effect this crisis has had on us as individuals and on our economy as a whole.
All of our leaders, whether elected, business, civic, social or other, should be willing to take political ownership of the issue and confront the tough questions that are at the heart of the crisis.
The effort must be approached with the same unity and resolve as would any major initiative to attract industry, create jobs or improve our lives. This unity and resolve are crucial as Gov. Robert Bentley prepares to name members of the Insurance Reform Commission and call a special session on insurance in the fall of this year.
We must recognize that no single “silver bullet” bill or idea will solve all of the numerous complex problems with the availability and affordability of insurance. The state’s proper course lies in a comprehensive package of bills.
Read
complete article
Posted 6/20/2011
Alabama won't create a state-owned insurance
In an
interview with
Phillip Rawls of the Associated Press, Governor Bentley said Alabama won't create a state-owned insurance plan like Florida's Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which has faced deficits while becoming the state's largest carrier. Instead, he's considering using about $100 million that Alabama expects to get from BP for the Gulf oil spill and put it in an investment account.
He anticipates homeowners could buy insurance with a high deductible, possibly $25,000, because it would be much more affordable and available. Then they would pay maybe $25 a month to belong to the investment program. If their homes were damaged or destroyed by a storm, they could borrow their $25,000 deductible from the program and repay over it several years at little or no interest.
So far, nothing is worked out with the Legislature, and there is no date for a special session.
"We will not call a special session until we have the problem worked out," he said. "We are not going to waste taxpayers' money by trying to have a special session."
Posted 6/20/2011
MORE ON SPECIAL SESSION
Governor Bentley said he might call lawmakers back into special
session, perhaps as soon as this fall, to address affordable
homeowners' insurance coverage for hurricanes, tornadoes or
other wind damage.
Bentley said he would call the session only if "all the parties"
agreed on a bill or package of bills.
"We will try to have something that will help people of this
state to have affordable insurance for their homes", he said.
Posted 6/20/2011
SESSION ENDS WITH NO WORD ON INSURANCE CRISIS
Thursday (6/2/2011), speaker Hubbard said "If we stopped right now,
this would be the most productive session in decades and we still have a day to go. I think if we stopped two weeks ago it would have been the most productive session in decades. I am real proud of what we've done."
Read the full Montgomery Register article
'Leaders ready for last day of legislative session'.
There is not one word about the homeowner insurance crisis.
Clearly we are not yet being heard on Goat Hill.
See bills introduced by Sen. Brooks
Posted 6/6/2011
Beware of insurance industry’s motivations
CRAIG SKAGGS
On April 22, George Altman’s article, "Coastal insurance bills pass, eventually,"
(see post below; also see similar
comments about insurance lobbyists at House
Committee hearing ) reported that the insurance lobby in Montgomery the previous day had tried to kill four bills that would have helped Alabama homeowners strengthen their homes against storms.
The package of bills faces a long uphill climb against the resources of the insurance industry before they clear the full Senate and House to become law.
To the casual observer, it would appear odd that the insurance industry would work so hard to prevent customers from doing things to lower claims in the wake of storms.
Senate Banking and Insurance Committee members had, in their morning meeting, listened to two insurance lobbyists say the bills caused them no problems but should be killed because they might somehow interfere with the upcoming Governor’s Commission on Coastal Insurance, which is being organized to help homeowners afford homeowners insurance.
Two committee members, however, pointed out that insurance lobbyists had visited state legislators to tell them the package of bills should be killed to give insurance lobbyists "leverage."
Their actual objective is to stop the thing they really fear: Senate Bill 2, a bill offered by citizen groups to force the Alabama insurance industry to turn over, by ZIP code, premium amounts and claims paid.
Makes you wonder what they are hiding. Could it be the industry is making a fortune in premiums, unwarranted by homeowner damage risks?
Posted 4/29/2011
HOUSE BANKING & INSURANCE COMMITTEE HEARING
This picture was taken just before the beginning of Wednesday's
(4/20/2011) House Banking and Insurance Committee Hearing on insurance bills affecting our coastal insurance crisis. With the exception of a couple coastal legisalators, all the people
you see around the walls are Insurance Lobbyists. HHII had a couple people present, but otherwise lobbyists dominate the audience. Not the tens of thousands of affected families.
Thanks to Sen. McMillan, HHII was alerted to the hearings, all
be it with minimal notice. Coastal representatives Steve
McMillan, Joe Faust, Harry Shiver, Randy Davis and James Buskey
presented a handful of bills written by Senator Ben Brooks. (the Clarity Bill supported by HHII, was not one of them.)
Senator Brooks said they wanted to present basically fluff bills
that do a little but not much good and need to be gotten out of
the way before the governor's special insurance commission and
proposed special legislative session begin. That way, they can
deal with much more profound changes in the special session.
Fluffy as they were, the insurance lobbyists opposed them.
At one point, when Sen Brooks said the lobbyist opposition to a bill was a stalling tactic, a lobbyist said from the sidelines that Brooks was lying. The lobbyists maintained all bills should be put off until the upcoming special session and then considered as parts of a whole package. Brooks continued, and the lobbyist again said he was lying. With a measure of grace most of us would find difficult to muster, Brooks answered the accusation without ever looking at the lobbyist. Lobbyists opposed and defeated bills in past years when no special sessions loomed on the horizon, he pointed out.
Then, a Democrat's set of questions shed bright light on the nature of past lobbyist traditions.
After a different lobbyist had spoken against one of the bills at some modest length, Tuscaloosa Representative Christopher England, a Democrat, asked the lobbyist what was wrong with the bill. The lobbyist had said it like most should simply be put off until the special session but had not cited any specific problem with the bill. Representative England wondered if there was any problem. If there was no porblem with it, why not go ahead and get it out of the way?
The lobbyist responded with a fair number of sentences, none of which listed any problem specific to the bill. There was a momentary pause, and then Rep England asked again: Is there any problem with the bill. At that point another lobbyist sitting against the wall blurted out somewhat insistently: it needs to be considered as part of a package in the special session! It sounded to me almost petulent, as if the audacity of a representative requiring an answer out of insurance lobbyists was an unheard of violation of proper decorum. A pause hung in the air. Then Rep England asked again: but, do you have a problem with the bill. It was getting interesting.
At that point, lobbyist Steve Windom jumped up and said the bill would cost the state general fund $450,000*. After a pause, Rep England thanked the "industry" (the legislature's code word for lobbyists) for its odd concern for the state's general fund, and then asked again: but, is there a problem for the industry in this bill?
After a moment, Mr. Windom said, "there is no problem with the bill," adding that it just needed to be put off until the special session.
It was a remarkable exchange. Rep England's persistent rowing against the tide seemed to well-illustrate that -- unlike the average coastal homeowner attending meetings of this sort-- insurance lobbyists (ooops) -- "the industry"
- is not necessarily expected to deliver clear, provable, fact-based arguments regarding their opposition to a bill.
It was an embarrasing moment for "the industry", and, for the first time, I began to believe the lobbyists aren't an invincible super race. There is a chance normal people will be able to beat their behind-closed-doors tactics and get this problem fixed.
Sunshine and fresh air are among the most remarkable remedies. An informed, unified and committed-to-success people can't be stopped.
Join HHII as it shines the light on "the industries'"
machinations.
(*Sen Brooks pointed out that the $450,000 figure was based on an assumption that all policies held by the Wind Pool would be taken over by "the industry" -- a faulty assumption. The less taken over, the smaller the impact on the state general fund, and he believed the number taken over would be considerably fewer than the 100% projection.)
Revised 4/29/2011
Is there a home insurance scam inherent in Alabama law?
An opinion piece, below, by Woody Snell in the 4/9/2011 Montgomery Advertiser
suggests there is. He writes, in part:
"Looking at the current market problems, there appears to be a home insurance scam inherent in Alabama law. People who purchase Baldwin County properties (and probably Mobile and other counties that I have not researched) are required to purchase home owners' insurance at a very high rate and, if they pursue a mortgage loan, will have to purchase insurance that has a 5 percent "exclusion clause."
What has happened to so many people is that mortgage and insurance companies have gone up on their rates on people who bought knowing what they could afford and then had their financial commitments raised on them with no recourse. They had to walk away because they could no longer afford to pay for the mortgage and insurance requirements."
Read complete opinion piece in Montgomery Advertiser
Posted 4/10/2011
Gulf Coast residents pushing for coastal insurance reform
When the state Legislature starts its session Tuesday, a group of south Alabama residents hope that a new governor and Republican majority will mean renewed interest in addressing soaring coastal property insurance rates.
At meetings around Mobile and Baldwin counties, members of the Homeowners Hurricane Insurance Initiative have been discussing grassroots efforts to support Senate Bill 2. The proposal, also known as the Property Insurance Clarity Bill, is sponsored by Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile.
The bill would require insurance companies to publish how much they
charge in premiums and how much they pay out in claims in each zip code
in Alabama, Stan Virden, an initiative member, said.
Read complete 2/24/2011 article by PR reporter Guy Busby
Posted 2/24/2011
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