More than 18,000 Galveston County property owners could lose their state-backed windstorm insurance under a proposal headed to a Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) committee on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

The TWIA Legislative and External Affairs Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to discuss a legislative recommendation that would limit TWIA residential coverage to owner-occupied homesteads. If the Texas Legislature eventually adopts the change, second homes, vacation homes and investment properties along the coast would no longer qualify for TWIA wind and hail policies.

Galveston County has the largest concentration of secondary-home TWIA policies in the state, according to the Galveston Island News. The proposal is listed as Item 5 on the Sept. 1 agenda, submitted by a TWIA board member.

$19 billion in exposure

Statewide, nearly 20% of TWIA's residential policies cover secondary homes, representing about $19 billion in insured exposure as of March 31, according to committee meeting materials. The stated goal is to reduce TWIA's total exposure and probable maximum loss from major storms.

TWIA acts as the insurer of last resort for wind and hail damage in designated coastal areas where private-market coverage is unavailable. For Clear Lake area property owners with beach houses on Galveston Island or Bolivar Peninsula, losing TWIA eligibility could mean shopping a private market that has shown little appetite for coastal risk. TWIA's own depopulation program, which tries to move policies to private carriers, has drawn zero participating insurers since 2023. No carriers stepped up.

No policy change yet

The committee cannot eliminate coverage on its own. Any recommendation it approves would go to the TWIA Board of Directors, then into TWIA's 2026 Biennial Report. State law requires that report to reach the Legislature, the Commissioner of Insurance and the Sunset Advisory Commission by Dec. 31, 2026. Lawmakers would then decide whether to amend Chapter 2210 of the Texas Insurance Code during the next legislative session.

The meeting materials also flag two prior TWIA legislative recommendations from the 2024 Biennial Report that the 89th Texas Legislature did not take up during its 2025 regular session. One dealt with multidistrict litigation and the other with FORTIFIED home construction standards. State Rep. Tom Oliverson of Harris County plans to refile FORTIFIED-related legislation next session, including a grant program for property owners who build to FORTIFIED standards.

How to weigh in

Property owners can submit public comments to [email protected] before the Sept. 1 meeting. The full agenda and supporting documents are posted at twia.org.