SB498 Would Extend TWIA Waiver Program
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas State Senator Larry Taylor (R Friendswood) filed the first of three bills to ensure coastal residents have access affordability and availability to windstorm insurance coverage.
Senate Bill 498 ensures access to a critical Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) program that would otherwise does not expire at the end of the year. The program authorizes a waiver from certain TWIA eligibility requirements when a coastal residents windstorm coverage is cancelled or non-renewed in the private market through no fault of their own.
The process for a homeowner to prove after the fact that their home meets eligibility standards is unnecessarily cost prohibitive in many cases said Taylor. Extending the waiver program is essential to maintaining economic stability on the Coast. As filed SB 498 removes an arbitrary expiration date that was added during the last legislative session and allows the program to continue indefinitely.
The waiver program represents over 40000 of TWIA policyholders. Discontinuation of the program would result in economic chaos along the coast.
SB 498 as filed:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/84R/billtext/html/SB00498I.htm
Sen. Larry Taylor represents Senate District 11 comprised of parts of Brazoria Galveston and Harris Counties. Before his election to the Texas Senate in 2012 Sen. Taylor served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist11/dist11.htm
