Insurance issues?

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A joint legislative hearing is scheduled to be held Wednesday, March 11, 2009 beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the House Chamber on the 5th floor of the State House in Montgomery.

The hearing will focus on legislative initiatives to address Coastal Insurance problems. Individual citizens may testify before the legislators holding this public hearing, either in support or opposition to the legislation under consideration.

The following bills related to Coastal Insurance have been introduced in the House of Representatives by the Baldwin and Mobile delegations during the 2009 Regular Session.

HB539 - This bill would provide for zone by zone credit for voluntary insurance writings in the Gulf Front, Beach, and Seacoast zones on the basis of 100 percent for fire insurance polices, 75 percent for home and mobile home owners policies, and 50 percent for commercial multi-perils policies.

HB540 - Existing law does not provide an incentive for homeowners to rebuild damaged or destroyed homes, or upgrade existing homes, in a way that would better resist future harm from severe weather. This bill would provide insurance credits for homeowners who build a new home, rebuild a damaged or destroyed home, or retrofit an existing home to be resistant to severe weather.

HB541 - This bill would provide further for insurance for residential property and damage caused from a catastrophic windstorm event. This bill would establish a catastrophe savings account to cover an insurance deductible and other uninsured portions of risk of loss for residential property from a catastrophic windstorm event. This bill would allow taxpayers to claim a credit against their state income tax for deposits made into the catastrophe savings account.

HB542 - This bill would prohibit the application of a hurricane deductible for property damage in insurance policies unless the damage arose from a named hurricane or tropical storm and would provide penalties for violations.

HB654 - This bill would specifically define insurance fraud by a person, an insurer, a reinsurer, a broker, or their respective agents. This bill would authorize the Department of Insurance to investigate suspected insurance fraud and would also require the reporting to certain public officers of suspected insurance fraud.

HB675 - This bill would establish within the Department of Insurance an advocate office for consumers. This bill would allow the Commissioner of Insurance to conduct hearings at the request of an aggrieved consumer. This bill would allow the commissioner to establish nonbinding alternative dispute resolution procedures for claims relating to personal and commercial insurance lines. This bill would grant immunity from civil liability to any person who provided information concerning the condition of an insurer. This bill would require the advocate office to prepare an annual legislative report.

FOX10 News sat down with state representative Spencer Collier about these insurance issues. To see the entire video, click on the video tab to the left.