From the category archives:
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association puts more burdens on the taxpayer than any similar entity in any other state. Premiums on high-end houses do represent a large share of TWIA’s total income but they also represent a large share of total risk placed on taxpayers. If the state is to maintain a publicly run wind [...]
It’s like watching a hurricane build a house. That’s how I would describe the attempt to write a comprehensive bill to address the issues at the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA). Much of the ever changing language is due to the battle over tort reform issues such as treble damages and multi-district litigation courts. Unfortunately, [...]
Amidst a statewide debate over regulation of Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), significant attention has focused on the wisdom of maintaining TWIA’s current coverage limits. Here are some facts about the coverage limits for TWIA. $1.7 Million: Current TWIA coverage limit. (Source: TWIA, www.twia.org) $152,750: Average structure value of a home in Texas. (Source: Lincoln [...]
This week the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association hired a new interim head for the state run windstorm insurer. John Polak, the former vice president of specialty and affinity markets at National Interstate Insurance Co. was hired by the TWIA board to replace Jim Oliver, who is currently on unpaid administrative leave as a result of [...]
There was no argument in the Insurance hearing this week that the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) is desperately broken. Steve Mostyn, one of the prominent attorneys representing policyholders, brought a dozen charter buses full of coastal residents to the Capitol. The committee heard several hours of testimony from these TWIA policyholders of their dissatisfaction [...]
A new report from The Heartland Institute, a national think tank with offices in Austin, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Tallahassee, Florida, offers an outline for confronting the major problems facing the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA). TWIA, a “market of last resort” intended to provide property insurance for people unable to find it in the [...]
The turmoil at the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association continues. As our own Julie Drenner reported, the Travis County District attorney is now looking into TWIA’s ills and criminal charges may be possible. At a minimum, it appears that TWIA had very serious management problems; at worst, someone stole money. While the right financial controls, laws and [...]
This week the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) placed the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) under administrative oversight due to allegations of fraud and mismanagement. Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin stated that the state’s insurer of last resort “is in a condition that makes its continuation in business hazardous to the public or to its policyholders, [...]
This week, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) sent its recommendations to the Texas legislature. Many of the proposals will further the stated goal of lessening TWIA’s liability to the taxpayers. One of the painful lessons in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike was to assign damage to the proper entity. In numerous cases, three separate [...]
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