South Texas Lawmaker Appointed to Windstorm Insurance Oversight Board
Texas state Rep. J.M. Lozano has been appointed to the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) Legislative Oversight Board, a group of four State Representatives and four State Senators that will closely monitor TWIA and conduct oversight activities on behalf of the legislature.
TWIA serves as the property insurer of last resort for wind and hail insurance along the Texas Gulf Coast. While not a state agency, the association operates under legislative oversight, as well as regulatory oversight by the Texas Department of Insurance.
Lozano, who represents Bee, Jim Wells, Kleberg and San Patricio Counties, has been at the front and center of battling TWIA rate increases and making agency reforms since his election to the Legislature.
He continues his fight for coastal Texans with this most recent leadership position in the Texas House of Representatives. Lozano currently serves as the chairman of the House Committee on Environmental Regulation and sits on the House Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee.
In a statement released by the House of Representatives, Lozano said it is “time to make meaningful reforms to this program. The Coastal Bend is a economic engine for the entire State of Texas. I won’t stand for us to be discriminated against with unfair rates just because we live on the coast.”
TWIA’s underwriting and actuarial committee last year had recommended a rate increase for both commercial and residential properties but at its quarterly meeting in December, the association’s board declined to request a rate hike.