Joint Panel Searching for Fixes to Windstorm Coverage

State lawmakers today begin considering how to fix the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), a publicly run private pool of insurance money that’s still paying out millions of dollars in claims to victims of Hurricane Ike. A joint House-Senate panel created by a 2009 bill will look at ways to restructure the quasi-governmental insurer of last resort, but the chairman of the House Insurance Committee, state Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, has already suggested that TWIA should be abolished if it can’t be fixed.