January 18th at 2:00 P.M., Legislative Office Building, Room 421, Raleigh, NC
As you know, NC 20 battled valiantly to protect the coastal counties from
outrageous increases in insurance rates back during the negotiations on House
Bill 1305 (HB 1305). We blunted much of the damage, but there’s no doubt that
we ended up experiencing some severe pain with the resultant bill due in large
part to the huge insurance lobby and the power that they wield in Raleigh. With
our recent victory on the Sea Level Rise issue behind us, it’s time to revisit
homeowners insurance. Our coastal legislators, led by Representative Tim Spear,
have arranged for a dialog between NC 20, the Insurance Commissioner, and the
coastal legislators. It will be in Raleigh on the date and time above.
To be effective, we need a big turnout from coastal residents at this meeting to give
the Insurance Commissioner a clear understanding of the dissatisfaction and anger
that we feel over the treatment of coastal residents in the matter of insurance.
Our main goals in this meeting are to ask why huge amounts of Beach Plan
premiums (about $250 million per year) are being spent on reinsurance. One of the
outcomes of HB 1305 was to cap liability for the insurance companies at $1billion
and provide for a surcharge on insurance policyholders throughout the State in the
event of a catastrophic event. Equally important is the matter of base rates
themselves, which affect all of us. Why are they as much as five time the rates in
Charlotte? Really, how much is enough? We’ve never had a Category 5 and only
one Category 4 hurricane. Why do mentions of Katrina keep cropping up?
There are a lot of extremely serious questions that need to be asked and the
Commissioner, who is the representative of the people, needs to hear from us
directly and forcefully.
We are writing this in the hope that you will attend the meeting in Raleigh and bring
people from your county with you to demonstrate forcefully the extent of our
dissatisfaction. To begin the process, we will have a luncheon at the Cardinal Club
in the Wells Fargo Capitol Center building (150 Fayetteville Street, Suite 2800) at
12:00 noon to give all of the attendants a pre-briefing on what we hope to
accomplish. We can walk from the Cardinal Club to the Legislative Building for the
meeting and then back to the parking deck. There is a parking deck on Wilmington
Street right across the street from the Wells Fargo Capitol Center. If you bring your
parking ticket with you, the Cardinal Club can validate it for you. The cost of the
meal is $10 per person payable at the door of our private dining area in the Capitol
Room.
Please make every effort to attend and bring some very vocal people with you! Call
the number below to help us with lunch arrangements.
Board Members
Bill Price Bob Slocum Bud Stilley Larry Baldwin Missy Baskervill Rudi Rudolph Willo Kelly John Droz
Tom Thompson Daniel Scanlon Frank Heath Randy Keaton David Peoples Tim Buck Russell Overman
Mazie Smith Randell Woodruff William Cowan Bobby Outten David Burton Fred Bone Kathleen Riely
705 Page Road, Washington, North Carolina 27889 Office: (252)946-3970
Fax: (252)946-0849