The South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce held its final Impact luncheon for 2010 Thursday

at the Elberta Civic Center.

The chamber’s guest speaker for the last luncheon was Walter Bell. Bell is the former Alabama Insurance Commissioner and current chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corp. Bell is also an important member of Gov. Bob Riley’s Coastal Recovery Commission, which presented its final report last week as well.

Bell spoke to a room full of business and civic leaders from the area on insurance, building codes and the timely topic of how the Alabama Gulf Coast proceeds in recovering from an economic downturn, hurricanes and a manmade disaster like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill this past summer.

Bell began by speaking about the topic he knows best, insurance. Bell began working on statewide insurance when he took the post of Alabama Insurance Commissioner years ago, but he said coastal insurance has been a hot-button issue for almost a decade, and he foresees the discussion continuing for decades to come. According to Bell, the issue of coastal insurance was drove home especially hard with the double whammy of Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2005.

“We have been talking about coastal insurance since 2003. At least since I can remember,” Bell said.

According to Bell, legislation dealing with insurance makes it difficult for companies to come into the state and offer policies, especially considering the increased risk for property damage in the coastal regions.

Bell offered a few suggestions as to where the insurance situation in Alabama should be headed in the near future. He hoped through legislation insurance companies would be given more incentives.

Another key to an improved insurance outlook, according to Bell, would require homeowners to put out additional funds now, but he said it would be an investment into a lifetime of savings. According to Bell, there are insurance incentives still in effect which will offer discounts if a homeowner makes improvements to their home which makes property damage less likely.

For example, if large pine trees surround a home, eliminating the possibility of trees falling on the home during a storm would result in a decrease in the homeowner’s premium each subsequent year, which would make the insurance situation a little brighter. According to Bell, there are a lot of improvements homeowners can make to their homes to make them more storm ready, but also lower insurance premiums at the same time.

Even if homeowners step up to retrofit their homes, Bell said the building code, while made tougher since Hurricane Ivan, could still be tougher, and the key to a successful building code, according to Bell will be inspections.

“The key is going to be inspections. The building codes are strong. Now what are we going to do about enforcing it?” Bell said.

Bell also proposed another solution to coastal insurance woes, which would be a way to mitigate more than 200,000 homes. This issue was addressed in the Coastal Recovery Commission’s report.

“We came up with an idea called the Coastal Mitigation Trust. And what that would do, that would take some of this BP money, set it aside in a trust for homeowners to retrofit their homes,” said Bell.

He also spoke on how the coastal communities can rebuild stronger than ever, even if a dime of payment is never received from BP. According to Bell, building a stronger coast is dependent upon individual responsibility, but some legislation changes and planning are necessary as well.

Bell also spoke at length on the Coastal Recovery Commission’s report to Gov. Riley and Gov.-elect Bentley, which was delivered earlier this week.

“We presented a report to Riley and Gov.-elect Bentley (Wednesday) afternoon in Montgomery, and that report, it was amazing to see what had come out of this less than 90-day event to say how can we move forward from BP,” said Bell.

According to Bell, the issues facing this area go deeper than just insurance issues, building codes lacking enforcement and natural and man-made risks.

“For this roadmap, the BP oil spill was a catalyst to take a look at this whole thing again and say how can we protect ourselves living here in the Gulf Coast area. Because, quite frankly, we have substantial risks and those risks aren’t going to go away. We live with them everyday,” Bell said.

“It is not just insurance speak and gobbledygook. It is real issues in here that we can take from the economy, from the environment, and look forward to making a healthier society for lower Alabama. It is really well done,” said Bell, describing the report to the governors.

Bell also said he was impressed with Bentley when he met him for the first time last week. Bell is convinced Bentley understands the importance of Mobile and Baldwin Counties to the entire state, and according to Bell, Bentley even has a residence in Baldwin County, which he frequents often.