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TWIA Articles — Archive
Ensure protections for Texas,
Austin American Statesman Op-Ed,
By Beaman Floyd June, 29. 2007
With hurricane season underway, the potential danger for Texas and its 367-mile shoreline is never far from mind. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita's ferocious winds affected not only coastal areas, but budgets, lives and businesses across the state.
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) — backed by public and private funding — provides Texas' coastal residents and businesses with wind and hail coverage when it is not available in the private marketplace. By now, many Texans have heard that TWIA is woefully underfunded.
The state-created fund, originally intended as an insurer of last resort for coastal properties, has the capacity to fund $1.03 billion in insured losses. However, a worst-case scenario for a catastrophic storm traveling up the Houston Ship Channel could result in losses of $8 billion to $10 billion.
Some people on the coast say a storm that depleted all of TWIA's funding wouldn't be so bad, because the association's funding structure calls for unlimited assessments of funding — or fees — to be taken from insurance companies across the state to make up for the shortcomings.
Sounds great, right? Not so fast. Read more...
June 24 , 2007
Galveston poised to defy geologists,
Los Angeles Times
The Texas city lost 8,000 people in a 1900 storm but is about to OK a development that could boost its vulnerability.
June 12 , 2007
Windstorm board discussing the future,
Galveston County Daily News
What’s in store for the state’s windstorm insurer of last resort and its policyholders after lawmakers last session couldn’t agree on funding solutions for the program?
June 11 , 2007
Op-Ed: A broken TWIA is a coastal calamity,
Galveston County Daily News
By Beaman Floyd, TCAIS Director
May 31 , 2007
Windstorm failure is bad for taxpayers,
Galveston County Daily News
Lawmakers’ failure to shore up funding for a last-resort windstorm-insurance program puts all taxpayers on the hook should a catastrophic storm strike the Texas coast, insurers say.
With hurricane season underway, the potential danger for Texas and its 367-mile shoreline is never far from mind. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita's ferocious winds affected not only coastal areas, but budgets, lives and businesses across the state.
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) — backed by public and private funding — provides Texas' coastal residents and businesses with wind and hail coverage when it is not available in the private marketplace. By now, many Texans have heard that TWIA is woefully underfunded.
The state-created fund, originally intended as an insurer of last resort for coastal properties, has the capacity to fund $1.03 billion in insured losses. However, a worst-case scenario for a catastrophic storm traveling up the Houston Ship Channel could result in losses of $8 billion to $10 billion.
Some people on the coast say a storm that depleted all of TWIA's funding wouldn't be so bad, because the association's funding structure calls for unlimited assessments of funding — or fees — to be taken from insurance companies across the state to make up for the shortcomings.
Sounds great, right? Not so fast. Read more...
June 24 , 2007
Galveston poised to defy geologists,
Los Angeles Times
The Texas city lost 8,000 people in a 1900 storm but is about to OK a development that could boost its vulnerability.
June 12 , 2007
Windstorm board discussing the future,
Galveston County Daily News
What’s in store for the state’s windstorm insurer of last resort and its policyholders after lawmakers last session couldn’t agree on funding solutions for the program?
June 11 , 2007
Op-Ed: A broken TWIA is a coastal calamity,
Galveston County Daily News
By Beaman Floyd, TCAIS Director
May 31 , 2007
Windstorm failure is bad for taxpayers,
Galveston County Daily News
Lawmakers’ failure to shore up funding for a last-resort windstorm-insurance program puts all taxpayers on the hook should a catastrophic storm strike the Texas coast, insurers say.
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