GOVERNOR APPOINTS INSURANCE PANEL

Alabama Insur-ance Commissioner Walter A. Bell will chair a 20-member insurance panel app-ointed by Gov. Bob Riley to study hurricane insurance issues in coastal Alabama.

The “Insurance Issues Task Force” will recommend strategies to Riley’s office and the legislature. Members include, among others, Senators Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, and Gary Tanner, D-Theodore; Representatives Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores, and Spencer Collier, R-Irvington; and Alabama Indepen-dent Insurance Agents President-elect, Harland “Jay” Ison, Jr.

Bell said the group will begin work with no preconceived notions. “We will be looking at a variety of ideas,” he said. “By coming together, we can work through the issues that affect citizens and companies. It is a large task, but it is an important one.”