Friday, May 02, 2008
By BRIAN LYMAN
Capital Bureau
MONTGOMERY The state Senate killed a bill Thursday that supporters said would help address a coastal insurance crisis in Alabama by expanding the beach pool, but did revive and pass a ban on commercial gill nets.
The Senate's actions leave both issues in the hands of the House of Representatives.
The insurance bill that died Thursday was one of two Senate bills dealing with the topic sponsored by Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile. The Senate on Wednesday approved the other bill, which would allow so-called captive insurers to sell homeowners policies.
Brooks said that expanding the number of people eligible for the Alabama Underwriting Insurance Association often called the beach pool, the coastal insurer of last resort would provide relief to homeowners in Mobile and Baldwin counties, which have been battered by recent hurricanes.
The bill, Brooks said, would help the beach pool survive a catastrophic storm.
Click here to read the full article from the Mobile Press-Register.
