Property owners in Clear Lake Shores, Seabrook, Nassau Bay and across Galveston County will keep their windstorm insurance after a state committee voted down a proposal to cut coverage for second homes.
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's (TWIA) Legislative and External Affairs Committee voted 2-1 on Tuesday, Sept. 1, in Austin to reject the plan. The proposal would have stopped new policies for non-owner-occupied homes and phased out existing coverage over five years.
The measure failed 2-1.
The stakes were steep locally. Galveston County holds nearly one-third of all TWIA residential policies, the largest share of any county in Texas, The Daily News of Galveston first reported. Statewide, the proposal would have affected 53,620 second homes and beach cabins covered by the state-created insurer of last resort, according to KFDM.
Nearly 290 written comments were submitted against the measure. Coastal lawmakers, local officials and industry groups opposed the plan, according to The Daily News.
State Rep. Dennis Paul, who represents District 129 in the Clear Lake area, reacted on X on Sept. 1. Paul said his office "spoke directly with TWIA about our serious concerns" and thanked the committee for voting down the proposal. He called the outcome good news for coastal property owners.
The vote took place the same day Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall in Southeast Texas, underscoring the region's vulnerability to wind damage and the importance of available coverage.
TWIA is the insurer of last resort for windstorm coverage along the Texas Gulf Coast. Property owners in the 14 coastal counties TWIA serves turn to the association when private insurers will not write windstorm policies.
For Galveston County, where nearly one in three TWIA residential policyholders lives, losing that backstop could have left thousands of owners searching for alternatives in an already tight insurance market.
The Daily News headline noted the coverage was preserved "for now." No date for any follow-up action has been announced.
