Politics of a Long, Hot Summer

Like summer, the political season is bearing down upon us. And like summer, this political year is destined to only get hotter and hotter.

In Texas, with the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and a U.S. senate seat up for grabs, the time from now until November will definitely be interesting, to say the least. One can’t turn on a television or radio, or open a newspaper without learning about the candidates’ stance on the “issue du jour.”

More and more, especially in the governor’s race, insurance is proving to be a huge issue. Both candidates—incumbent Republican Rick Perry and Democratic rival Tony Sanchez—support some kind of insurance reform. As early as February, before the primaries set the current race in motion, the candidates came out swinging.

Stating that Texans pay the highest homeowners rates in the nation—twice the national average—Sanchez took aim at insurance companies and declared that Texas consumers deserve to be on a level playing field as the carriers. “I’m tired of seeing insurance companies come into the state, take our money, then raise prices while they reduce coverage,” Sanchez said.

Perry in February directed the state’s attorney general to investigate marketing practices of Texas’ three largest homeowners insurance companies. He also urged the insurance commissioner and legislative leaders to look at possible ways to increase the affordability of homeowner’s insurance.

More recently Perry came out with a proposal to place all providers of homeowners insurance under the state’s scrutiny. He offered a plan that includes empowering the Texas Department of Insurance to impose rate freezes either on specific companies or across-the-board, a ban on use of credit scores and allowing the use of more national policy forms. Perry stopped short of calling for a special legislative session to deal with insurance issues.

Supporting the idea of a special session, Sanchez criticized Perry’s plan. According to Associated Press reports, Sanchez said Perry has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from insurers over the years and asserted that the governor won’t call a special legislative session to stem rising rates because he “is bought and paid for” by insurance companies.

Earlier this month Republican attorney general candidate Greg Abbott took flack for accepting contributions from Farmers and Allstate, two insurers under investigation by the attorney general’s office for deceptive homeowners market practices. According to the Dallas Morning News, the two insurers contributed around $3,500 to Abbott’s campaign at a fund-raiser in Austin. Abbott claimed he was unaware of Attorney General John Cornyn’s investigation, and subsequently returned the money.

Cornyn, meanwhile, is a candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against Democratic former mayor of Dallas, Ron Kirk, to win the spot being vacated by Phil Gramm, who’s retiring. So it’s not unlikely that insurance issues will surface in the Senate race as well. Summer is the time for rest and relaxation, and at least part of our recreation will be watching the politicians make their cases. And come November, it will be our turn to tell them what we think.

Topics Carriers Texas Homeowners