Texas Watch—Consumer Protection. Corporate Accountability. Citizen Advocacy.

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Eleanor Kitzman as the state’s next Insurance Commissioner.  Ms. Kitzman currently serves as a state budget appointee for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and served as South Carolina’s insurance commissioner under Gov. Mark Sanford.  Ms. Kitzman has also been an insurance executive for numerous insurance companies and a lobbyist for Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group.

Texas Watch executive director Alex Winslow issued the following statement. Read More »

Coastal homeowners and businesses are at risk with the passage of the final version of a bill to restructure the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.

“TWIA needlessly punished and endangered its policyholders after Hurricane Ike. The lesson from this man-made disaster should be to bolster protections for policyholders.  Instead, lawmakers have chosen to severely curtail the legal protections and constitutional rights of coastal residents and business owners,” said Alex Winslow, Texas Watch executive director.  “This legislation is an unconstitutionally retroactive big government solution that severely restricts existing legal protections designed to guarantee that claims are paid promptly and fairly.” Read More »

Rep. Larry Taylor admitted that he is vacationing in the Bahamas rather than attending to legislative duties in Austin, the Associated Press has reported.

Several times this week the House has struggled to maintain a quorum, slowing the business of the state during a special session that is costing the taxpayers $37,500 a day.  The most prominent issue still unresolved during the special session is how to reform the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), an issue critical to Rep. Taylor’s coastal constituents.

Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch, issued the following statement. Read More »

We’ve all heard the story of Stella Liebeck and the infamous cup of McDonald’s coffee.  But, most of us don’t know what really happened.  The severity of the burns, the hundreds of complaints and injuries that preceded Ms. Liebeck’s injury, McDonald’s conscious internal corporate decision to keep the coffee at such high temperatures.

An important new film, “Hot Coffee” – premiering on HBO on Monday June 27th at 8:00 PM CT – features explores the McDonald’s case and others to show how corporate and insurance interests have manipulated the debate to turn public opinion against our constitutional right to Trial by Jury.

This is Must See TV! Read More »

Texas Watch Director of Legislative Affairs Ware Wendell recently testified against House Bill 3, the latest version of legislation to restructure the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.  He cautioned committee members against stripping coastal homeowners of vital protections that penalize insurance providers when they fail to pay claims promptly and fairly. Read More »

During a rush to pass bills before a crucial midnight deadline, Rep. Dennis Bonnen tacked an amendment onto Senate Bill 875 that gives polluters blanket immunity without any discussion or debate.  The Bonnen Amendment gives these polluters broad and sweeping authority to pollute the air and water without the threat of being held responsible for the harm they cause.  This was not an issue that was considered in committee or during the Senate’s debate on SB 875.  This sweeping change should not be enacted without the scrutiny and public debate provided by the committee process. Read More »

The Texas Senate passed a much improved TWIA reform bill in a late night session last night.  The Senate’s version of House Bill 272, sponsored by Chairman John Carona, largely preserves key policyholder protections, including penalties for not handling claims fairly or promptly.  Additionally, the bill includes important structural reforms to improve transparency and oversight of TWIA. Read More »

Our Director of Legislative Affairs Ware Wendell gave impassioned testimony to the Senate State Affairs Committee against HB 274 yesterday.  This is the bill that immunizes polluters, insurance companies, and other corporate wrongdoers by threatening families and businesses with having to pay the bloated legal costs of corporate defendants even if they win in court.  Watch Ware’s testimony. Read More »

A coalition of organizations representing varied interests and constituencies joined forces to oppose HB 274, the so-called “loser pays” bill, today.  In a memo to the Senate State Affairs committee, the coalition wrote that “HB 274 has broad implications that devastate the legal rights of Texans of all walks of life.” Read More »

Consider these real-world horrors: A child is left in a sweltering van by inattentive, careless daycare personnel and dies.  A grandmother in a nursing home is raped by a staff member with a history of sexual offenses.  Now consider this: A bill shooting through the legislature could force the parents of that child and that elderly rape victim to pay the legal defense of the people who shattered their lives. Read More »