Ike recovery, insurance reforms among top issues for Southeast Texas lawmakers

January, 12, 2009
Beaumont Enterprise Local
By EMILY GUEVARA

Southeast Texas residents could see improved disaster relief at least when it comes to insurance thanks to several key issues that legislators plan to consider at this year's session.

Representatives Joe Deshotel and Mike Hamilton said adjustments to what insurance policies cover and how relief is obtained top their concerns.

"I would like to see it some kind of way that people could purchase a hurricane policy that no matter what happens, you get covered," Hamilton said by phone. Bridge City residents learned the hard way that storm surge is not the same as flood waters and Hamilton cited a situation where a fallen tree that cracked a slab was considered an earthquake. Legislators need to make sure that the companies are taking care of people, he said by phone.

The legislative session will be made more difficult by a predicted $9 billion revenue drop. In 2007, the legislature reported $14.3 billion in new revenue, bringing them to a total of $82.5 billion.

"That puts a little different light on what we though we were going to do," Deshotel said. "It's going to be an interesting balance."

Still the destruction caused by Hurricane Ike will demand attention. Deshotel said the Legislature will look at how the state will respond in the future and what programs should be available. Sen. Joan Huffman said she would like to see how the state can help communities, like those on Bolivar Peninsula or Galveston Island, as they recover. She said with thousands of homes destroyed, schools damaged, and many residents gone, these communities are starved for cash. The question is "how do they continue to operate as a communities as they try to recover," she said by phone. She said the state will look at several options including helping the city's pay FEMA matching funds or forgiving sales tax for a certain number of years. These are only possibilities at this time.

In addition to the damage suffered by individuals and communities, the medical field suffered a blow when The University of Texas Board of Regents announced 3,800 layoffs at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in mid-November.

The hospital served between 600 to 750 of Jefferson County's poorest residents each month, according to The Enterprise archives.

Both Hamilton and Huffman said restoring the hospital to its former state is a focus of their legislative efforts. Prior to the hurricane, the system's main John Sealy Hospital operated with 550 beds. That dropped to 300 after the hurricane, with 100 of those used for prisoner treatment, the archives state. Neither legislator spoke specifically about how it could be restored. The hurricane damaged most of the Galveston property, according to the archives.

Apart from Ike-related efforts, education will also be a key issue statewide. School districts administrators are looking for some relief to help them deal with increase operational costs and a state funding cap that limits their revenue somewhat. Rep. Allan Ritter said it was too early to say what, if any, changes will be made to the funding formula for public education.

"I'm not saying it's out of the question," he said by phone. "I think this session will be session where appropriations will be toward the end of the time when we have to do the bills."

Students could see relief in the form of a tuition freeze. Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, is among a bipartisan coalition of senators who have signed on to SB 105, which would freeze tuition rates at public universities for two years, according to the Enterprise archives.

Tuition rates have increased by 53 percent in the five years since tuition deregulation bills were passed in 2003, according to the archives.

After the two-year period, tuition increases would be tied to the consumer price index, a measure of inflation, the archives stated.