(Texas Scorecard) – The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association board of directors will consider a 10 percent rate hike on residential and commercial policyholders for 2025. Residents within the organization’s jurisdiction only have until August 6 to share their views.
The association’s Actuarial & Underwriting committee recently voted to recommend a rate hike to the board of directors. The recommendation is based on a rate accuracy analysis done by the committee, if approved by the board of directors, it would be filed with the Texas Department of Insurance—the department in charge of reviewing the TWIA.
The purpose of TWIA is to provide a lower-cost windstorm insurance policy for those living in 14 Texas coastal counties and a portion of Harris County. As an insurer of last resort, to be eligible to apply for a policy through TWIA property owners must have been denied by at least one other private insurance company.
State Rep. Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi is opposed to the hike according to local reporting and local officials such as State Sen. Mayes Middleton of Galveston sent out a call to action for citizens to oppose the rate increase by emailing TWIA ahead of their board meeting on August 6 in Galveston.
TWIA-eligible counties include Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Willacy, and parts of Harris County east of Highway 146 which fall in Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s precinct.
At their July board meeting, TWIA said they received 16,000 windstorm insurance claims from Hurricane Beryl, and they expected it to top 20,000 and exceed $200 million in payouts, which constitutes half of its $450 million Catastrophic Reserve Trust Fund.