If It Can Rain, It Can Flood

During the 2019 and 2021 sessions, legislators filed a flurry of bills relating to how local governments and businesses operate in preparation for, during, and after major weather events. The 2019 session was the first time the Texas Legislature met following Hurricane Harvey and the February 2021 deep-freeze happened during the 2021 regular session.

Several bills became law because of those two major weather events, including these two insurance-related bills:

Senate Bill 442, from the 2019 session, mandates that insurance policies that cover residential or commercial property which do not include flood coverage, clearly state that the policy does not cover damages or loss due to a flood. This helps consumers for obvious reasons and also agents from E&O claims.

The next session, the Texas Legislature added protections for people who rent rather than own. House Bill 531 deals less with insurance, but none-the-less protects consumers. The new law mandates that landlords disclose to potential tenants if a property is in the 100-year floodplain and/or has flooded in the previous five years.

IIAT Government Affairs was engaged throughout the legislative process to help shape and craft these bills so that they would benefit the consumer without harming the insurance agent who sold the policy.

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Questions?
Contact Regan Ellmer at 512.493.2454.

NOTE: The Texas Ethics Commission has strict prohibitions on contributions and expenditures and forbids a corporation or labor organization from making a political contribution or political expenditure. Therefore, IIAT members wishing to make a contribution to IMPACT must do so with a personal or partnership contribution. Corporate contributions are prohibited by law.