Gov. Greg Abbott is directing Texas insurance regulators to take immediate action aimed at lowering costs as homeowners across the state face sharply rising premiums.
“The average annual homeowners insurance premium in Texas has risen 79 percent in six years,” said Abbott. “High insurance costs hit Texas families hard. Today I direct the Texas Department of Insurance to put consumers first and take action that makes property and casualty insurance more affordable.”
In a letter sent Monday to Texas Insurance Commissioner Amanda Crawford, Abbott noted that the average annual homeowners insurance premium has climbed from under $2,000 in 2020 to more than $3,500 in 2026.
Abbott directed the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to take several steps, including prohibiting insurers from refusing to write or renew residential property insurance policies based on the age of a home or individual components such as the roof.
The agency must also require insurers to account for a home’s FORTIFIED roof status when setting rates. FORTIFIED is a construction and roofing standard developed by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety designed to make homes more resistant to severe weather, including high winds and hail.
Under Abbott’s directive, homeowners with roofs meeting the standard would have that status factored into their insurance rates in an effort to lower premiums. The letter does not specify how large those reductions would be.
Another directive targets what Abbott called “price optimization,” a practice in which insurers use personal data unrelated to insured risk to determine prices.
Abbott ordered TDI to issue a bulletin banning the practice for all products regulated by the agency.
The governor also ordered the creation of an Insurance Fraud Task Force, arguing that fraud makes insurance more expensive for consumers.
TDI was additionally directed to study the impact of “excessive, unnecessary, and inflated claims costs” on Texas’ commercial auto, personal auto, and homeowners insurance markets.
The directives follow several insurance-related measures approved during the most recent legislative session.
Abbott said those changes require consumers to be told why an insurance policy was declined or canceled, prohibit insurers from requiring residential and personal auto policies to be bundled, eliminate the so-called “widow penalty,” and require insurers to use up-to-date credit scores if credit information factors into premium calculations.
Abbott has also proposed additional changes for the next legislative session, including establishing a Texas Roof Fortification Program aimed at reducing wind and hail damage and allowing auto insurers to consider good driving habits when setting rates.
TDI has also been instructed to identify additional administrative actions that can be taken immediately, as well as statutory changes lawmakers could consider to protect consumers and make insurance products more affordable.
Abbott ordered the agency to provide those recommendations to his office by September 14.
