Coast residents are gearing up to get a wind insurance clarity bill passed in the Mississippi legislature in 2015. MPB’s Evelina Burnett reports.
The legislation is modeled on a similar bill in Alabama, which requires insurance companies to disclose how much they take in in premiums and how much they’ve paid out in claims by county or zip code. State Representative Scott Delano of Gulfport introduced a clarity bill this past session, which passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
Bob Chatham is with a church-based volunteer group called the Mississippi Affordable Wind Insurance Coalition, which is also backing the legislation. He pays about $4-thousand dollars a year for fire, theft and wind insurance on his Long Beach home, up from around $850 dollars before Hurricane Katrina. He decided to compare the rate for just fire and theft with a general homeowner’s insurance policy elsewhere in the state.
Chatham says the ultimate goal is to buttress support for a multi-state wind insurance cooperative that stretches from Texas to Maine.
Members of the coalition have a meeting scheduled with Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney this week and hope to meet with other state leaders, including the governor, by the end of the year.
