JACKSON - Attorney General Jim Hood urged the state Senate on Tuesday to pass two hurricane-related bills and an identity theft proposal he says are imperative to protecting Mississippi consumers.
All three bills passed the House with wide voting margins, but Hood said during a news conference at the state Capitol that Senate committee chairmen have failed to act.
One of the insurance bills would mandate that insurance companies offer a storm surge waiver so property owners know whether or not they have flood coverage.
"We've had hundreds of people coming up here saying they didn't know they didn't have flood coverage," Hood said.
Thousands of Gulf Coast residents are battling insurance companies over damages caused by Hurricane Katrina's massive storm surge on Aug. 29. Policy holders say the companies should cover wind-driven water damages. The insurance companies maintain they don't have to pay for water damage if the homeowner did not have a separate flood policy.
Hood has sued the insurance companies over the water-versus-wind damage controversy and many Mississippi residents, including U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., have filed individual suits.
Lott's waterfront home in Pascagoula was destroyed in the storm.
Hood said even people who did have flood insurance policies have not been paid, even six months after the deadly storm washed ashore.
That's why Hood said he supports a bill that would charge insurance companies interest when they don't pay in a timely manner.
He said one of his own staffers, special assistant Morgan Shands, had three policies on his Bay St. Louis home but his claims have not been paid.
"The only way I know to get insurance companies to pay is to charge interest on those claims," Hood said. The interest charge would be 12 percent.
Sen. Deborah Dawkins, D-Pass Christian, said many coast residents are struggling to survive.
"I'm very disappointed in the response the insurance industry has shown the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans," Dawkins said. "I truly hope that we get these bills before the Senate."
Hood also urged senators to pass an identity theft bill that would allow consumers to voluntarily freeze their credit reports.
In a written statement, Hood said 37 percent of complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission were related to identity theft. He said there were 1,350 complaints from Mississippi alone in 2004, the most recent figures available.
Hood said 12 other states have had success with similar bills.
The bill would prohibit a credit reporting agency from disclosing a consumer's credit report, which would prevent identity thieves from opening fraudulent accounts, he said.
Hood distributed copies of a letter he sent to Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, asking him to bring the insurance bills up for a vote.
He also passed out copies of a letter to Senate Business and Financial Institutions Chairman Nolan Mettetal, D-Sardis, which asked Mettetal to bring up the identity theft bill.
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