Is it possible for an idea to be too good or too practical? Perhaps.
Or so it seems at least when it comes to Senate Bill 72, the modest proposal offered (yet again) by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, to ban the use of credit scoring by insurance companies when making decisions about who to write a line of insurance for or who to deny or cancel. The practice is discriminatory and discredited by research clearly demonstrating no correlation between credit score and insurance risk (or, risk of not paying your premiums). Nonetheless, in Texas a credit score can determine an individual’s insurance premium. A measure to ban the practice has been introduced so many times that we’ve literally lost count. Perhaps the umpteenth time’s the charm?
While we’re at it, it may also be worth watching Ellis’ SB 73, an insurance-reform measure that would ban insurers from considering a person’s sexual orientation of gender identity when deciding whether or not to write a line of insurance, or in determining an insurance premium.
In order to keep up with the flood of bills filed throughout the legislative session, the News staff is picking one a week to highlight and explain more in-depth, whether it be good, bad, or altogether out of left field. For more Lege coverage, see Legeland.
This article appears in December 14 • 2012.