Thursday, December 18, 2008

Home Owner's Insurance Reform In 2009 TX Legislative Session

Texans are paying the highest rates for homeowners insurance in the nation -- six years after an insurance crisis led Gov. Rick Perry and numerous state leaders to promise lower rates that never came. Meanwhile, insurance companies have enjoyed record profits.

With Democrats winning more seats in the Texas State Legislature in the 2008 election, homeowners will have an all-too-rare chance at genuine reform when the Legislature once again debates homeowners insurance in the 2009 state legislative session.

In the two legislative sessions since 2003, Speaker Craddick (R) made sure that few reform bills escaped the House Insurance Committee to come up for votes in the full House.

But next year the dynamic will change for two reasons. The House is more closely divided between Democrats and Republican, meaning Craddick, an opponent to reform, may not be speaker. Craddick can't win speaker's chair again for the 2009 legislative session without a block of support from Democrats, and neither can any other Republican. It would be very surprising if many, or any, Democrat(s) back Craddick for the speaker's chair.

More important, the Insurance Department is undergoing sunset review, the regular process by which the Legislature examines state agencies. That ensures that an insurance bill will move through the Legislature. Many Democrats and Republicans, having heard from angry homeowners in their districts, are pushing for more stringent regulation.

With foreclosures on the rise in Texas, many lawmakers realize that reducing consumers’ insurance bills may allow more folks to keep their homes. Also, Republicans may be more anxious to make a show of "supporting the average Texan" after the Houston-based Republican Hill Research firm, raised such serious questions about whether the Republican Party might be in trouble in Texas after a decade of political dominance. Continued Republican opposition or foot dragging on meaningful Home Owner's Insurance Reform in the 2009 legislative session will give Democratic candidates a giant hammer to swing at their Republican opponents during the 2010 election cycle.

Ron Kirk To Be U.S. Trade Representative In Obama Cabinet

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Maria Recio
WASHINGTON — Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, initially a front-runner for transportation secretary, has opted to be U.S. trade representative in the Obama administration, sources said.

The announcement of the Cabinet-level position could come as soon as today in Chicago, where President-elect Barack Obama has scheduled a morning news conference.

The prestigious position, which comes with the title of ambassador

Read the full story at star-telegram.com

Those born in Texas, generally stay in Texas

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Anna M. Tinsley
There really is no place like home for true Texans.

For now, 75.8 percent of adults born in the Lone Star State still live here — the highest percentage of any state keeping its native residents — making Texas the nation’s "stickiest" state, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data released Wednesday.

But it's not just sentiment keeping nearly 24 million people in Texas, where "y'all" and "howdy" are as much fixtures as the deep-rooted cowboy traditions, love of football and pride in the fact that nearly everything is bigger.

"It's jobs, jobs, jobs," said Karl Eschbach, the state demographer at the University of Texas at San Antonio. "With the job creation in the state of Texas, you don't need to leave the state for employment.

"Why would anybody want to leave Texas?" Eschbach asked. "Texans love their state."

Others do, too.

Between 2005 and 2007, nearly 1.7 million new people moved to Texas, but only 1.3 million moved out, which means Texas is keeping more people than it's losing, said D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer with the Pew Research Center who co-authored the study.

Read the full story at star-telegram.com

Another Republican Running For Hutchison's Senate Seat

Michael Williams, the Republican Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, who was re-elected in the November 2008 election, and one of the most prominent African-American Republicans in the nation, released a statement announcing his candidacy for Senator Hutchison's Senate seat.