Windstorm legislation bill moves on to House

Bay City Tribune

By Heather Menzies
Bay City Tribune

Published May 6, 2009

Mitch Thames, Bay City Chamber of Commerce president, gave commissioners an update on Texas Windstorm Insurance legislation that passed the state senate last week during their regular weekly meeting Monday Morning.

Senate Bill 14 includes a five-percent rate hike per year for policy holders within the 13 "seaside counties" in Texas.

"There's not necessarily a cap to that," said Thames.

"In ten years you could be looking at a 50-percent jump."

Thames said Senator Glen Hegar assured him Friday that "the majority of the worst" had been taken off of the bill.

"If you'll remember, we had house bill 911 from (Representative) Smithy that was horrible," said Thames.

"Then we had a committee substitute 4733 that was bad."

"Both of those have gone away," he said.

Thames said the important thing to watch out for now are amendments that are attached to the bill after the third reading.

"Senate Bill 14 has come from the senate and it now is going to be heard in the house," he said.

"It could be amendments in our favor or it could be amendments against us."

According to Thames, there was some talk among Congressmen that they would let the bill die.

"That's really not an option, to be honest," he said.

He said that there is currently no money to fund TWIA policies.

"You'll be paying for windstorm insurance and you'll have a policy but there will be zero dollars in the windstorm commission to pay out if we had a storm," he explained.

"So something has to be done - a bill has to be passed."

According to Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald, Thames has logged many hours working in Austin to make Matagorda County's voice heard to Congressmen concerning TWIA legislation.

"Mitch Thames has been carrying that banner for us in Austin in those (congressional) halls knocking on doors and getting our message across very clearly," said McDonald.

McDonald said he would be sending a request to Senator Glenn Hegar that an amendment be added to Senate Bill 14 creating a mechanism requiring all Texas counties that make TWIA claims to be considered for premium increases.

"If any county jurisdiction has to make a windstorm claim then they should be subject to the same kind of rate hikes we are," said McDonald.

"That's only fair."

Commissioners George Deshotels and James Gibson agreed with McDonald saying that Hurricane force winds affect more than just tier one coastal counties.

Doug Matthes, Matagorda County Emergency Management coordinator, told commissioners that there are still no confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu in the county.

"We have not heard from the eight swabs that were sent from Matagorda County to be tested," he said.

"There is obviously a back up (in lab testing) but they are trying to expedite that," Matthes explained.

"They have brought in a lot of new resources from out of state to help with the testing process and speed it up."

Matthes said it is important to remain vigilant about hand washing and to refrain from greeting others with bodily contact.

"I try to implement the thought process that I'm not worried about getting the flu from you but I don't want to give you the flu because I may have it," he said.

"If you think about it that way then it's a little bit easier and you're not worried about hurting someone's feelings by not hugging them or shaking hands."

In other news, commissioners:

approved a memorandum of understanding with Matagorda Independent School District an authorized the county to apply for a Hazard Mitigation Grant from the Governor's Division of Emergency Management that would fund partial payment for hurricane glass used in the new construction for the school district;

approved a proclamation declaring Thursday, May 7 as National Day of Prayer in Matagorda County;

approved a proclamation declaring May 2009 as national Preservaton Month in Matagorda County;

approved a proclamation declaring May 2009 as Older Americans Month in Matagorda County;

approved employment of Otto Janssen as a heavy equipment operator in precinct one at pay grade 14-2 and eliminated two light equipment operator positions.