What the commission actually heard

The most detailed public account of the commission's work is contemporaneous coverage of its December 2024 meeting.³

Warren Hopper of Gallagher Insurance in Mobile presented data on 137 condominiums, hotels and convention centres from Dauphin Island to the Florida border: roughly $4.9 billion in value, contributing roughly $208 million a year in state tax revenue. More than 124 were worth over $5 million each; more than 107 were reinforced concrete. His loss modelling: a Hurricane Frederic-scale storm costing about $7.4 million in lost tax revenue during rebuilding, a 90-day coastal shutdown about $51 million, a one-year shutdown about $208 million.

Senator Chris Elliott (R–Josephine), on the record: “This is what happens if these 137 properties are offline. This is what the state is playing Russian roulette with,” and “[t]here is significant risk to the state's revenues and we should make steps toward mitigation.” He was reported as believing there is a legislative solution.

Representative Holk-Jones (R–Foley) made the point that the exposure is not confined to the beach: “Even though we are concentrating on the coast, Atmore, Greenville [and] Birmingham were without power during Frederic.”

Steve Simkins of State Farm, at the September 2024 meeting, said there was no “easy answer” and noted that the market of last resort covers only up to $1 million.

And an illustration of what the market looks like at the top end: Karl Groux, general manager of the Perdido Beach Resort, described buying a parametric policy at $800,000 covering $5 million of wind damage — after carrying no property insurance at all the previous year.

Why this matters to an association even though nothing has passed

The commission is the only live Alabama forum whose remit covers the problem, and its menu names the two mechanisms that would most directly change an association's position.

Broadening the wind pool for commercial property would address a documented gap. The Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association's rules, effective November 1, 2025, exclude loss assessment, blanket insurance and schedules involving more than one building, and cap any one insured location at $3 million. A coastal association cannot solve a master-policy problem there today.

Grants for wind-resistant construction and fortified roofing would address the other. Strengthen Alabama Homes pays up to $10,000 toward a FORTIFIED designation but requires an owner-occupied single-family primary residence and expressly excludes condominiums.

Both gaps are real, both are documented in the relevant agency's own materials, and both sit inside the commission's stated scope.

What has not happened, stated plainly

HJR 291 required the commission to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor. We could not find that report published anywhere.

HJR 220 asked the Governor to extend the commission's scope and work and to provide annual assessments of market conditions. We found no evidence either way that the Governor acted on that request.

We found no scheduled meeting of the commission and no output from it in 2025 or 2026. The most recent documented meetings are September and December 2024.

And a resolution is not a bill. HJR 220 expresses the will of the Legislature and binds nothing. No measure implementing any item on its list has been introduced.

What to watch next

Senator Elliott's statement that there is a legislative solution is 21 months old, and two regular sessions have passed since it was made without a bill. We searched for any legislator on record committing to file a coastal insurance measure in 2027 and found none. Treating this as a 2027 preview would be speculation with no source behind it, and we are not going to present it as one.

The first hard signal would be a commission report, or a prefiled bill. Prefiling for 2027 is barred until the Organizational Session on January 12, 2027; the Regular Session convenes February 2, 2027.