After months of drafting, we finally have an insurance reform bill. Senator Thom Goolsby introduced Senate Bill 395 which creates a Citizens’ Property Insurance Board to protect the interests of NC citizens in the property insurance rate setting process. The Bill is a significant first step in redefining the rate making process. Thank you Senator Goolsby!

The Bill could not have come at a better time. On March 10th 2011, the NC Supreme Court denied the request for discretionary review (will not hear the case) in the Dare County lawsuit challenging the NC Insurance Commissioner’s decision to raise coastal rates in the 2008 Homeowner’s Insurance Rate Filing. All legal (judicial) avenues to challenge the NC Insurance Commissioner’s decision have been exhausted. The only solution now is legislative.