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Public Forums
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HHII INTERVIEWS TIM RUSSELL
HHII met with Tim Russell, who is the chairman of the forthcoming governor's blue ribbon task force on insurance,
on May 26, 2011. Tim personally asked the governor to name Michelle as a consumer representative
on the commission. Other comments:
-- The governor is going to expand the marching orders to include developing insurance-think for all of Alabama (because of the tornadoes).
-- All meetings will be in Montgomery. (Otherwise we'd have to have one down here and one in Birminghma and bnack and forth, plus, if all the meetings were down here, it would cause a perception-problem for people up state.)
-- He imagines six, day-long meetings :
(1) How insurance works in Alabama
(2) How Alabama taxes operate;
(3) turned over to HHII (he said he would turn it over to HHII, not to consumer reps);
(4) turned over to Department of Insurance regulatory bodies;
(5) Breakdown into subcommittees to develop recommendations;
(6) Agree on recommendations.
HHII asked him to make definitions, description of the problem and principles part of the Meeting 1 discussion, and
Tim seemed agreeable. He made a note on his tablet.
HHII asked if we could have a budget to fly in some experts, such as Robert Hunter.
Tim said he knew Robert Hunter from testimony events in Congresin years past -- in which Hunter was on the other side. He said he held Hunter in high regard even though they were on opposite sides. He said he would check with the governor on this. Calling in our experts was not a problem. The only problem was whether the state would pay their expenses.
Tim said he would have to think about the idea of permitting a minority report.
He said that wind-and-hail is too big for state-level solutions. The federal government needed to create a Catstrophe Fund. He and former Congessman Gene Taylor are strong supporters of each other.
Tim said that if the commission just got the disparate taxes charged insurance companies levelled, so that all were charged the same thing, the Task Force "would be worth it." (This
is a concern. The tax differences charged Alfa verses others is only 3 points or so. Based on previous conversations,
HHII is confident Tim imagines the inequity being resolved by raising Alfa's taxes up to what the rest pay. This would add $35 million to the state budget which -- again, extrapolating from prior conversations -- he would like to see applied to his pet project, a captive insurance company.
Tim has invested $600,000 personal money in the idea.)
Tim said several times that he has a passion for justice. He's a direct descendent of Nurse Goody, the last matron to be hung in Salem duriung the Salem Witch Trials. The modern museum of witchcraft in Salem, where
Dan bought his coffee cup when he and his wife were in Boston, is his grandmother's, who was hung, house. That was part of the stories of where his passion for justice arises.
HHII found the conversation comfortable. Tim seemed desirous of solutions. Fixing this problem would be a nice legacy. Fixing it at the cost of his long-time comrades in insurance might be more legacy than he can stand, but we'll see.
Keep in mind, too, though, that he will be running for Probate Judge in all Baldwin County next year, so he has something to lose if he gets wierd.
Posted 05/27/2011
HHII MEETS WITH TIM RUSSELL
HHII representatives met recently for a research meeting with
the Alabama Commissioner of Revenue, Tim Russell.
The topic was an Alabama captive, if sufficiently capitalized would need to have a hefty amount of reinsurance and might be able to reduce premium rates by 25 – 40% because they would not have to pay taxes on the premiums.
Posted 3/8/2011
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