The state commission studying Alabama’s troubled homeowners insurance market scheduled a public forum in Mobile, offering coastal residents a chance to describe firsthand the premium increases that had strained households and businesses across the region.
The Alabama Affordable Homeowners Insurance Commission planned to host the forum on Monday, Aug. 29, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center downtown, according to commission member and state Sen. Ben Brooks. As it happened, the date fell on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a coincidence that underscored the storms driving the crisis.
A panel with a mandate
Appointed by Gov. Robert Bentley, the 30-member commission was charged with developing solutions to the upheaval in the insurance market stemming from recent hurricanes and tornadoes. Bentley had said he would call a special session of the Legislature that fall if the commission produced proposals guaranteed to pass, a condition critics grumbled would hand an advantage to industry interests that preferred the status quo.
Former Foley mayor and Baldwin County Probate Judge Tim Russell chaired the commission, and he had tapped Brooks to serve as the Baldwin and Mobile regional chairman. Brooks would moderate the Mobile forum.
How the evening would run
The session was set for the second-floor West Ballroom of the convention center on Water Street, with free parking available beneath the building. Brooks said the program could run past its allotted two and a half hours if participation warranted, and that guests would be allowed to sign up to speak until 5:30 p.m.
The plan called for two hours of citizen input, with a short break, followed by roughly an hour of brainstorming among commission members. The public was welcome and encouraged to remain for that discussion, and speakers would be chosen at random.
A plea for turnout
Brooks emphasized the importance of a strong showing from Alabama’s coastal communities. A paltry turnout, he warned, would send a message of Mobile and Baldwin apathy to the rest of the state and could dampen enthusiasm for action, since commission members from across Alabama would carry their observations home.
For a region where wind and homeowners coverage had become a defining economic concern, the forum represented a rare opportunity to shape a statewide policy debate. The soaring cost of insurance had touched nearly everyone who bought, or had once bought, coverage along the coast, and the commission’s work carried direct implications for the affordability of living and doing business near the water.
Toward a possible special session
The Mobile forum formed part of a broader effort by the commission to gather public input before recommending changes. With the governor’s willingness to call a special session tied to the strength of the panel’s proposals, coastal advocates had reason to make their case forcefully.
Brooks framed the evening as a test of the region’s resolve. By turning out in numbers, he suggested, coastal residents could demonstrate the urgency of the issue and press the case that insurance reform belonged at the top of the state’s agenda.