SUMMERDALE, Ala. — Summerdale town leaders have agreed to support state legislation that would reduce insurance premiums for Baldwin County homeowners.

That commitment was made during Monday’s Town Council meeting when representatives of the Homeowners’ Hurricane Insurance Initiative approached the Council with a presentation.

“In 2005, there was no insurance crisis in Baldwin and Mobile counties,” Dan Hanson said.

He went on to say that after Hurricane Katrina, the Alabama Department of Insurance enabled homeowners’ insurance in those counties to be raised 400 percent higher than in the rest of the state.

“The Department said go ahead and treat Baldwin County different from everybody else because they have hurricanes,” Hansen said, adding that this was done without prior research. “They did not collect data.”

Hansen presented figures showing that the proposed Clarity Law shows that yearly coastal losses from hurricanes are actually $622 per policy, “compared to $722 for the rest of the state.” Meaning HHII research indicates home damage in Baldwin County is lower than the rest of the state.

Hanson and his South Baldwin colleagues explained that State Rep. Joe Faust will present the Clarity Law in Montgomery in January in an effort to ensure that all weather data throughout Alabama is included in determining homeowners’ insurance rates.

“I would like to take my hat off to these people,” Faust told the Summerdale Council Monday. “We need to listen.”

He said that under current regulations, homeowners are encouraged to mitigate their homes. However, he added, when they do so the improvements read as an increase of property value, and insurance rates.

“We’re being ripped off, and we’re being cheated,” Faust said.

The group requested that the Summerdale Council pass a resolution stating the town’s support of the Clarity Law.

Summerdale Mayor David Wilson told them that if they drafted a resolution, the Council would vote on it.