Andrew Schneider/Houston Public Media

Gov. Greg Abbott is proposing measures to help rein in rising home and car insurance costs for Texas residents. Abbott spoke Wednesday following a campaign stop in northwest Houston to meet with residents to discuss their concerns about affordability.

“Texas has what may be the highest home insurance cost of any state — if not the highest, we are one of the highest,” Abbott said.

Abbott noted that Texas ranks number one in the United States for the most hail damage and the most hail-related home insurance claims. Coupled with that, the state suffers an abnormal amount from wind damage, as a result of hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and other wind-related disasters.

To address the problem, Abbott proposed adopting a roof fortification plan, following in the footsteps of southeastern coastal states from North Carolina to Louisiana, as well as Kentucky and Oklahoma.

“Where this has been done, it leads to about an 8% reduction in premiums and, over the life of the roof, savings of about more than $15,000,” the governor said. “And this is a proven strategy that I say is time that we adopted in Texas to ensure that we are reducing the leading cause of home insurance rates going up.”

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Abbott also proposed changing Texas law to let insurers take moving violations into consideration when calibrating car insurance costs, with the aim of rewarding drivers for good behavior.

“In states where that has been done, if you look at what the auto insurers say themselves, it could reduce your auto insurance policy by as much as 30%,” Abbott said. “So, when you combine this auto insurance reform as well as the home insurance reform, it will lead to at a minimum hundreds of dollars a year, more likely thousands of dollars a year, in savings to homeowners and auto owners in the state of Texas.”

State representative and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hinojosa unveiled her own economic policy initiatives to combat the state’s affordability problems in a multi-city tour that began last week. Her plan would involve calling on the legislature to use $17 billion of the state’s Rainy Day Fund to issue tax refund checks of $1,500 to Texas families.

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Abbott’s announcement follows previous campaign statements about addressing affordability through fresh property tax relief bills. These would involve a combination of lowering the amount by which property appraisals can increase from 10% a year to 3% every five years; requiring a two-thirds voter approval for property tax increases; and eliminating school property taxes for homeowners, shifting the burden of funding schools entirely to the state.

“Admittedly,” Abbott said, “this is going to cost about $10 billion. If you look at what the Texas budget surplus is right now for each of the past four years, the budget surplus alone would have been enough to pay for that. However, we know we can’t always bank on that. And that’s why I’m working — as well as I know the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker are working — on ways in which we can cut state spending in areas that do not involve education.”