MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Let’s face it, homeowners’ insurance is not cheap.

Rep. Harry Shiver, R-Bay Minette, is aware of  this and proposed a bill in the Alabama House of Representatives on Wednesday that will, he said, close the gap to make insurance more affordable for homeowners.

 In a recent interview, Bay Minette resident Sybil Guy said her insurance goes up by $100-$200 a year. 

“It is the first thing that comes out of my check each month,” she said. “If I did not have the option of paying for it monthly, I don’t know what I would do.”

One of the policies offered for homeowners insurance is wind coverage. According to Lionel Rider, owner of Rider Insurance Agency in Bay Minette, only two companies are writing wind-only insurance in Baldwin County. 

“Baldwin and Mobile counties are the only two in the state with wind-only policies,” he said in a telephone interview. “It is kind of pricey.”

Guy said she does not have wind coverage because she would have to pay extra for it. 

“It is just too much,” she said.  

 Shiver’s bill, No. HB293, is one of 20 insurance bills being proposed this legislative session. It will give private-property carriers who write coverage in Baldwin County covered by the Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association a 20-percent tax cut on insurance premiums.

“My bill is designed to encourage other insurance companies to come to south Alabama and write insurance,” Shiver said. “We have to do something to help our people.”

Shiver said his bill would provide an incentive to private home-owner carriers to lower their premiums and “give us a break.”

“If we can close our gap for our people, then we can help our people,” he said. “We’re just trying to close the gap.” 

Shiver said insurance is especially expensive in coastal areas.

“We have people who are dropping insurance,” he said. “There are a lot of people who cannot afford insurance.”

Bob Groves, an Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association manager, said some agencies are not renewing or have been excluding wind for the past few years, and this bill would provide an incentive for them to provide such coverage. 

“Every company is required to pay,” he said in an interview. “It will lower the amount of tax the company would have to pay. We (AIUA) are supporting any incentive to help.”

Troy University journalism student Allyson Stinson of Bay Minette wrote this story as part of a project partly funded by the Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation.