Ten regional community and national consumer organizations
recently joined in a telephone conference call to explore the
possibilities of the power of linking up in a national coalition
to break the power of the insurance industry lobbyists and bring
about a just solution to the coastal insurance crisis.
Some of the concerns which surfaced during the discussions as to how a national coalition
could be useful to our organizations:
Educating the public
Push to make the models public info
Effect change in the relationship between reinsurance, rating companies and the effects on consumers
Push for an intervention process for every state
Expose the link between insurance contributions and our legislators
Uniform policies
Every social justice issue hits a tipping point where those who lived in despair rise up and say no more! Could it be that the first conference call of ten regional/national organizations working to bring justice to homeowners insurance is a harbinger of a focused, powerful coalition that can effect change?
Are we hitting the tipping point?
If you live in Mobile or Baldwin Counties, HHII (Homeowners'
Hurricane Insurance Initiative) is your regional
organization. Look in column at left to see how you
can participate and in column at right for an HHII meeting
near you.
In addition to HHII, organizations participating include:
NC-20
(North Carolina coastal counties)
Consumer Watchdog
United
Policy Holders
Bayou
Interfaith Shared Community Organization
Steps Coalition
Equity and Inclusion Campaign
Consumer Federation of America
Citizens for (MA) Homeowners Insurance Reform
Click on any name to find out more
and GET INVOLVED!
Posted 5/7/2011
Records of Inter-State Calls and Meetings
Six grass roots organizations from five states have joined
together to share their ideas on how to find solutions to
homeowners' insurance crisis through telephone calls and in
person conferences. The first conference call was held on
January 13 and the first in person conference was held in
Biloxi, MS. April 7.
You can read
records of these calls and meetings by clicking on the date
links at right.
Notes from multi-state meeting on April 7, 2010
Quick reference:
Next call – April 21 at 9am Central
2 day conference planned tentatively for June 23 & 24 – location
to be decided
Did we set another face-to-face planning meeting in Biloxi?
It was great to meet a few of us & I felt we really clicked and
worked well together. Many thanks for all of you who took the
time and to Bob and Roberta for putting together such a nice
lunch!!
After a round of introductions, we quickly got in to the
difficulties that the states of AL, MS and LA were facing in
regards to
homeowners’ insurance. We agreed that we are facing a crippling
disaster and we need to awaken our communities. Our politicans
need us to plow through the political deadlocks and pave the way
for them.
Proposed agenda for the face to face 2 day conference on June 23
and 24
-
Share dimensions of the pain
- How things currently work in your state and how they should
be working, for example:
- Availability of insurance, state of the market
- Transparency of the DOI
- Is there a wind vs. water shuffle with claims
- Examples of model legislation and
policies for
consumers
- Policyholders bill of rights
- Al’s transparency bill
- 5 bills by Senator Ben Brooks
- List options for each state and choose
a way forward
- Map out the next steps
Anything else?
Information to gather from each location:
- Number of coastal counties vs. the
rest of the counties in the state and population and what percentage of
the State general budget comes from the revenues of the coastal
counties?
- Average premium for the state for a
particular house, costing 150K (as valued by the insurance
companies)
- Is your Commissioner of Insurance
elected?
- What legislation has submitted to the
House and the Senate. Which got to the floor and
passed?
- Number of uninsured households
- Total dollar amount of premiums
collected, either by zip code or county and compare how the coastal counties
are with the rest of the State
- Total dollar amount of claims
collected by zip or county and compare how the coastal counties are compared
with the rest of the State.
I think a good source would be to call
your DOI and if they can’t tell you then ask them who should
know. Maybe a State rep or senator. On the next call
let’s compare notes
Anything else?
Attached is a resolution
that we are working on to submit to AL house and
senate. If you have time, could you critique it and let us know if you all
might have a way of supporting this kind of action in your state.
We have just decided to have a
Gubernatorial Candidates Forum! You all are welcome to
join us May 22, in the evening.
We will be talking next week. Let
me know if you will be on the call. I have to get the telephone info
approved, so I will send it out on Monday.
Michelle
251-895-3902
Summary of April 27 call
Real good conversation this
morning!
In the call were: Grace,
Antwyn, Criag, Bob, Zack, Tom, Seth, Stan, Dan and Michelle
We decided to have another
planning meeting in Biloxi on May 5, Wednesday from 10 – 1pm. This time, we
need everyone to RSVP to Michelle so Bob can buy the right amount of food by
May 3(please bring $10).
We will be having a
conference call on April 28 at 9am. I will e-mail reminders and the
telephone numbers to you.
We agreed that the agenda
for the two day conference will be pretty much as outlined, but add the
discussion point – what to name our organization? Something that suggests
multistate, no hurricanes, and something all american, like “american home
owner …...”
Attached is the
previous e-mail with the suggested agenda for
the two day conference.
Please call if you have any
questions. Great work!!
God bless,
Michelle
251-895-3902
Summary of
April 28 call
Present on
call: were Dan, Vickery, Michelle, Bob and Craig.
We talked about
the agenda for face-to-face Planning Meeting for Wednesday May 5
10am in Biloxi at Church of the Redeemer
At the Planning
meeting we will:
-
establish purpose/goals for this
multi-state wind-and-hail insurance initiative
-
come up with a mission statement
-
decide a name for this initiative
-
analyze the “playing field” that we
are venturing to be a payer in and making sure that
we are working in ways that will keep us relevant to
this “playing field”.
- Establish specific “walk away” goals for
proposed June conference; such as: pull non-profits together;
citizens group that is a player in the Hurricane Insurance
solution; develop unified consciousness; do we move the
conference back to give us time to invite and prepare better?;
-
sketch out an agenda for June
conference
-
brainstorm turn out for (a) June
conference & (b) the planning group
-
Discuss & explore location of June
conference
Notes:
RSVP to Bob
Lowry so he can order food for next Wednesday's planning
meeting. (601-906-7543)
Bring $10
Address of
Church of the Redeemer is 610 Water St. Biloxi, MS 39539
Michelle's cell
is 251-895-3902
Great work,
Y'all!!!
Summary of November 22 Call
On the call were:
Allen S w. IRD in Mississippi,
Laura V w. Hope in Arkansas,
Tennessee, and Louisiana,
Laura P w. Lower 9 in New
Orleans,
Dave B w. Habitat 4 Humanity,
Mobile
Lauren Dupuis w. EDA in Atlanta
Dan H, Johnny C and Michelle K w.
HHII in Lower Alabama
It was agreed to work toward a
one day workshop on the topic of homeowners' hurricane
insurance. The purpose would be to bring non-profits and
community leaders up to speed on the issue so that they might be
more able to make a difference in bringing about a more just
solution.
A tentative agenda was discussed:
Before lunch from 9 to 11:30am
What is happening?
Presentations from Gene Taylor, Senator Ben Brooks and members
of the Dept. of Insurance. Topics that would be covered –
solutions that emphasize a Federal or regional response, the
role of re-insurance, mitigation, how could a multi-state
grasstops coalition become a part of the solution?
Lunch – bring $3 for chicken, men
bring drinks and women bring side dishes
After lunch – summary of HHII
findings that might help you in your state
Types of
strategies, pros and cons
Lay out
additional research and discuss possible targets for a
multi-state coalition
Identify
individuals and organizations that we need to invite to join us
Finish about 3pm
Location
Michelle will check w.
Church of the Redeemer and Allen might be able to help
Proposed Dates: Thursday, Jan 13
or 20
Information
that
Lauren sent to Michelle about funding that you all can forward.
Notes from January 20, 2011, Multi State
Workshop
Purpose: to bring non-profits and church leaders up to speed on the issue of hurricane insurance and begin thinking how we can move this issue.
Quick read – commitment was established to pursue a multi state coalition on this issue
18 present, strong representation from AL, LA, and MS
Presentations in the Morning were on the following
- Basic Insurance vocabulary
- Dynamics of the insurance problem
- Federal solutions
- Mitigation, captives and regional solutions
- The Alabama Experience and how MS and LA might need to proceed
The afternoon was dedicated to discussing the implications of the mornings input.
Action Steps:
- Monika, from Equity and Inclusion gave a clear presentation on Gene Taylor's Multi-Peril Bill and she will e-mail us a schedule of the weeks the US legislators have on their home turf.
- Conference call set for Friday, Feb. 4 at 10am. (877-760-2043 id – 286046)
- Going home, we all agreed to talk around the idea of a coalition and get a feel for what we could bring to the table, which will be part of the conversation on Feb. 4th.
- There will be a workshop in LA. The Gauthe's will ask around about a church location.
- Concise goals need to be articulated so that it will be clear what we are inviting people to participate in. Critique what is below, please.
- Research meeting w. Rep. DeLano
Who can go? Research meeting w. Mississippi Rep. DeLano on Feb. 3. Pre-mtg will be 9:30am at 2 Old River Place (Exit 55North at Fortification Street – see rest of directions below) Then we will travel to Rep. DeLano's office. Call Michelle if you can attend (251-928-3430)
This is what were the goals of HHII as listed on the Gubernatorial Candidates forum, May 22, 2010:
Goals of this Homeowners’ Insurance Initiative
Significant reduction in premiums;
Reliability of Insurance Companies;
Just payment of claims;
Sustainable solutions
Please write me back with your suggestions for the goals.
Posted 1/25/2011