More than a Dozen Bills aimed at Insurance Reform

The homeowner's insurance market in Mobile and Baldwin Counties has all but collapsed, according to Republican State Senator Ben Brooks of Mobile. During an interview at his statehouse office in Montgomery, Brooks pointed out some successes he and members of the Mobile delegation have had in reforming certain aspects of homeowner's insurance.

Brooks said he managed to pass legislation giving insurance premium discounts to homeowners who retrofit existing homes for hurricane and wind protection, or to those who build new homes to a better standard--a higher code. This year he has proposed several bills. Among the, one that would give insurance companies a tax break for writing coverage in areas of South Alabama now only covered by the state wind pool.

Brooks has been taking on the insurance industry for most of his three and a half years in office. He says he does not believe it is possible to pass just one piece of sweeping legislation that would give South Alabama homeowners relief. "There is no bill that would be a silver bullet," he says. Rather he believes a package of bills aimed at fixing specific problems are needed, and that is the path he and others in the delegation have embarked on.

But he says this session could be a little tougher getting bills to pass. Brooks says the session is shaping up to be a politically partisan one, perhaps because its an election year.