Almost two years after Hurricane Ike nearly wiped out the town of Galveston, Texas, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has agreed to pay an estimated $189 million to policyholders whose homes were destroyed by the storm.

The House leadership pulled a bill off of the floor before a vote could be taken on legislation that would add windstorm coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

The extent of damage and insurance industry losses from the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster is still unknown, but an industry environmental coverage expert said insurers should use the event to create new coverages rather than exclusions.

A federal probe into whether state insurance regulators are overstepping their authority when it comes to risk retention groups is being hailed by a national self-insurance group.