The Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia is applauding the appointment of a state panel to address health and safety issues surrounding Chinese drywall as opposed to a series of stalled bills it says were “flawed.”
Jim Cheng
Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng recently answered a call by state legislators to create the task force comprised of their peers and representatives of state government. The task force’s charge, according to Cheng’s office, is to “form a cohesive, coordinated state response to the federal government during their determination of potential federal action” to aid homeowners, especially those in the Hampton Roads region.
Other states, including Louisiana and Florida, have had issues with the defective drywall, linked to complaints including various illnesses and chronic headaches in homeowners and corroded plumbing and electric lines in homes.
The group’s membership is comprised of Dels. Glenn Oder (R-94th District) and Bob Purkey (R-82nd District), and Sen. John C. Miller (D-1st District), and representatives from several state departments, as well as Mary Bannister, deputy commissioner of the Virginia State Corporation Commission Bureau of Insurance.
Ken Schrad, an SCC spokesman, said the bureau anticipates updating its survey of the top 10 groups of homeowners’ insurers for the task force. When the bureau surveyed insurers in November 2009, none were terminating or refusing to issue policies due to Chinese drywall.
The IIAV’s president and CEO, Bob Bradshaw Jr., told IFAwebnews.com that the agents’ organization is glad to see the task force address something “flawed legislation” attempted to do in the General Assembly.
“It is certainly a good thing given the bills proposed were unprecedented in requiring insurance coverage for something always uncovered in the first place,” he said. “The legislation, as introduced, was an unprecedented attack on the insurance industry.”
Most notably was Oder’s HB 44, seeking to ensure individuals can file a claim with the holder of their homeowner’s policy for “property damage resulting from sulfur compounds released from Chinese drywall or for the replacement of the Chinese drywall,” according to the text of the bill.
The bill was shelved in deference to addressing the problem outside of the General Assembly.
This story originally appeared in the April 2010 print edition of Insurance & Financial Advisor.
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