Senate confirmation of public insurance counsel delayed
Senate confirmation of Public Insurance Counsel Deeia Beck was put on hold Monday as the Senate Nominations Committee approved a list of gubernatorial appointees – but left Beck’s nomination pending. The other appointees will be voted on by the full Senate later this week. Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, had asked the committee to delay Beck’s confirmation until she met with Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, to resolve differences over a bill Hancock filed to abolish the Office of Public Insurance Counsel.
At a nominations committee meeting last week, Fraser suggested Hancock was “stood up” at a meeting he was supposed to have with Beck, but she denied that a meeting was ever scheduled. However, she subsequently met with Hancock and has talked with other senators to clear potential roadblocks to her confirmation, which requires a two-thirds vote of the upper chamber. Beck has generally received good marks for her job of representing homeowners and small businesses before the Texas Department of Insurance.
At a hearing last week, Beck was asked whether she had endorsed Hancock’s opponent in the GOP primary last year. She replied that she did not. Beck, a former Fort Worth lawyer, has been the state’s Public Insurance Counsel since her appointment by Gov. Rick Perry in August of 2008. The bill to abolish her agency was filed days after she moved to block a 20 percent increase in home insurance rates by State Farm, the largest property insurer in Texas.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/02/senate-confirmation-of-public-insurance-counsel-delayed.html/
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