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GOVERNOR BENTLEY MEETS WITH HHII
During a 25 minute meeting February 16, Governor Robert Bentley told a delegation from HHII that he supported the Property Insurance Clarity Bill (SB2).
He said, too, that he did not want "piecemeal" legislation. This echoed a long-standing HHII principle: "Don't address a problem; fix it."
He said he will focus on this crisis when he is through with the budget, sometime in March and that he wanted to fix the problem before the year ended. If necessary, he will call a special session to deal with it. He arranged for HHII to begin working with his insurance policy
analyst: Johnny Blackmon.
Of some concern to the delegation, Gov Bentley said he might convene a commission. This has been done twice already. The recommendations that came out of the first one, convened by Governor Bob Riley more than three years ago, have been successfully fought by insurance lobbyists.
Prayerfully, Gov Bentley will recognize this and, rather than going backwards forming yet another commission, he will recognize that the time has come to fix the problem over and against the pressures industry lobbyists have already said they will bring.
In the photo, starting far left and working around the table, are Johnny Chaney, Earl Janssen, Stan Virden, Pastor Bennie L Richardson III, Gov. Bentley, Dan Hanson, A.C. Leggett, Michelle Kurtz, and Sarah Harris.
Posted 2/21/2011
BENTLEY TO KEEP
RIDLING AS DOI COMMISSIONER
Read 12/17/2010 MPR story
REMEMBER THIS?
Dr. Bentley answering HHII questions May 22, 2010
Bentley's Promises
At the May 22, 2010 HHII Gubernatorial Forum, Dr.Bentley made several
significant promises including (a) support of the HHII 'Transparency
Bill;' (b) appointment of an independent insurance commissioner; and (c)
meeting with HHII and the Alabama Christian Coaltion January 27, 2011 to
work out solutions to the insurance crisis. All these promises are
exhibited on the covenant board, pictured below
Bentley's signed committments
Notice he said he wants an "independent commissioner." In addition
to Bentley's signature, it bears the signature of The Rev. Bob
Frankenburg, pastor of Citronelle Presbyterian Church. Some 20 pastors
of numerous denominations along with 225 other people witnessed Mr.
Bentley's promises of appointing an independent insurance commissioner,
and also meeting with HHII and the Christian Coalition Jan 27 to
work out solutions to our crisis.
Read AL Sen. Ben Brooks' letter to Dr. Bentley
reminding him of his commitment to meet with HHII.
Click link for more about Jim
Ridling.
Posted 1/5/2011
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Q & A with Senator Ben Brooks re Insurance Reform
The following post from law firm Boteler, Finley & Wolfe's blog
is provided for informational purposes;
HHII neither recommends nor endorses the work of this firm
During his tenure in the Alabama Legislature Senator Ben Brooks of Mobile has been an advocate in our State, and specifically along the Gulf Coast, for insurance reform for homeowners and small businesses. Recently Mark Wolfe of BF&W sat down for a Questions and Answers session with Senator Ben Brooks on the topic of insurance reform....
Read More
Posted 2/3/2012
SENATOR SHELBY IGNORES COAST INSURANCE CRISIS
At Sen. Shelby's town hall meeting in Fairhope March 21, the Senator
gave, as he's done in the past, long, detailed, elaborately philosophical answers
(with graphic) to questions from the audience, but when asked about insurance
by HHII's Michelle Kurtz, he said it wasn't something he could deal with. When asked about the federal Gene Taylor/Jo Bonner multi-perils bill, he said he didn't support it because it would cost the federal government a trillion dollars
(see comment below). He refused to discuss the matter any further. He turned to other audience members in hopes of getting the subject changed. There was a noticable mumur of approval in the audience when they first heard Michelle's question. A couple
of other strangers tried to bring the subject back up. . . but he refused to deal with it.
Also, very disturbingly, Sen. Shelby refused to call on one HHII
member even though she was one of the first and very visible people in the audience of about 80 to raise her hand when
the audience was invited to ask questions. When it became obvious to all that
Sen. Shelby was intentionally ignoring her, she began to move around the room to get into his line of sight. This went on 20 minutes. He continued to ignore her, until she purposely spoke out of turn and addressed her question to him. Oddly, her question would have been friendly -- basically agreeing with him -- had he not so infuriated her and many of the rest of us by the way he treated her. In short, and as usual, he seemed to have no interest in listening or facilitating a public dialogue. Those who attended his public meeting at Five Rivers last year know his routine. He was only there to tell everyone what to think. And, of course, his treatment of
this HHII questioner was inexcusable.
Also read Russ Henderson's 3/22 report at al.com
A trillion dollars?
If we add up all the insurance losses accumulated in the disasters of the last 20 years -- Hurricanes Katrina, Andrew, Wilma, Charley, Ivan, Hugo, Rita and Frances, plus throw in the damages of the 9-11 Terrorist attack, plus the 1994 Northridge, California Earthquake -- their total dollar amount comes to under $130 Billion .. . about 1/8th of the Trillion Dollars
Sen. Shelby refuses to even talk about. (Source for storm costs: "Property/ Casualty Insurance 2008: Overpriced Insurance and Underpaid Claims . . ." by J. Robert Hunter, Consumer Federation of America, page 12).
Even more to the point, the Senator remains unaware that hundreds of billions in premiums would be paid into federal coffers if the multi-peril strategy were adopted. The Gene Taylor/Jo Bonner multi-perils plan would be revenue neutral (and
might even make the government money).
Posted 3/21/2011
ONO ISLAND FORUM
Sen. Pittman and Rep. McMillan said at the Ono Island forum Saturday,
March 19, that Gov. Bentley has basically forced the homeowners' insurance matter into a special session, "probably in the fall." They were a bit disturbed because the Governors's position has effectively taken insurance reform off the table for this session.
This could be a positive development for HHII, as it will provide
more time to educate House & Senate Banking & Insurance Committee members
on need for reform and the Clarity Bill (see post below).
Posted 3/20/2011
Bentley: Strict rules for insurers should be 'on the table'
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said the state should consider forcing insurance companies to write policies along the Gulf Coast and barring them from dropping policyholders.
"I believe in fairness, and, you know, there are just people in those (coastal) areas that are hurting, and they need some help," said Bentley, who took office in January. "Everybody is looking to me for leadership, and ... we're going to provide that."
Read complete 3/2/2011 story by PR reporter George Altman
Posted 3/2/2011
DOES GOVERNOR BENTLEY GET IT? (Redux)
Gov. Robert Bentley's State of the State speech
stressed his commitment to creating more jobs in Alabama but failed to
mention anything about the property insurance crisis facing the coastal
counties. Apparently, he does not understand the connection
between exhorbitantly expensive or unobtainable insurance coverage and
job creation.
Read
complete text of speech.
Posted 3/2/2011
Bentley supports coastal insurance reform
Gov. Robert Bentley said he supports a bill that would force insurers to disclose premiums collected and losses paid.
According to the
Press-Register, Bentley said he would call a special session to seek a comprehensive solution to coastal insurance woes.
Bentley made the remarks following a meeting in Montgomery with the
Hurricane Homeowners Insurance Initiative (HHII), which
is a citizens group pushing for reform that would lead to lower priced
and more available coastal insurance.
Read article at
Birmingham Business Journal
Read similar article at
Insurance Journal
Posted 2/18/2011
DOES GOVERNOR BENTLEY GET IT?
HHII wonders if Dr. Bentley understands or cares about the seriousness
and injustice of the homeowners' insurance crisis in Alabama's coastal
counties. Consider the following:
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Reappoints Ridley despite promise to HHII that
DOI Commissioner would be independent (see post below).
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Has not responded to Senator Brook's letter
reminding Dr. Bentley of commitments he made to HHII. (See
also HHII's reminder letter
to Dr. Bentley.)
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Has not responded to HHII letter
expressing our concerns with CRCAL Insurance Subcommittee
recommendations.
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Noncommital response
to letter from Earl Jensen.
Updated 1/18/2011
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