HB 1534 Mississippi House · 2025 Regular Session

Make Mississippi Resilient and Strong Act; create.

HB 1534, the "Make Mississippi Resilient and Strong Act," creates the Mississippi Windstorm Mitigation Association to provide grants for homeowners and commercial property owners to retrofit structures to withstand severe weather like hurricanes. The bill allows up to $15,000 per property for certified retrofits meeting standards set by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, with funding coming from assessments on property insurers (who may offset these costs against taxes). The association, supervised by the Insurance Commissioner, manages grant applications, requires third-party certification, and reports annually. The bill died in committee on March 4, 2025, after passing the House and moving to the Senate.

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

House Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 11, 2025 Last action Mar 4, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Committee Substitute → Current version · 1 edit

MINOR

The bill title was updated from 'Committee Substitute' to 'As Passed the House', indicating the bill has been approved by the House of Representatives and is now in its current form. This change reflects the legislative process stage rather than substantive policy modifications.

TECHNICAL

The bill header was updated from 'Committee Substitute' to 'As Passed the House', indicating the bill has moved forward in the legislative process. No substantive policy changes were made to the bill's content.

As Introduced → Committee Substitute · 7 edits

MODERATE

The bill was revised from its original version to a committee substitute, which reorganized the structure and added specific details about grant limits, assessment caps, and definitions. The most significant change is the addition of a $15,000 maximum grant limit per property and a $10 million annual assessment cap on insurers, providing clearer financial boundaries for the program. Several sections were renumbered and consolidated, with new definitions added to clarify terms like 'insurable property' and 'member insurer' to prevent ambiguity in implementation.

Scope change

The scope of the bill remains the same in terms of creating the Mississippi Windstorm Mitigation Association and providing grants for home retrofits, but the committee substitute adds specific financial limits and clarifies eligibility criteria to ensure fair and controlled distribution of funds.

FISCAL

Added a $15,000 maximum grant limit per insurable property to control program spending.

Added a $10 million annual cap on assessments against member insurers to limit financial burden on insurance companies.

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for key terms including 'Applicant', 'Board', 'Commissioner', 'Insurable property', 'Member insurer', 'Person', 'Premiums', 'Property insurance', and 'Retrofit' to ensure consistent interpretation.

REQUIREMENT

Reorganized sections and added detailed requirements for the plan of operation, including procedures for grant applications, board selection, conflict of interest policies, and financial record-keeping.

ENFORCEMENT

Added provisions for commissioner oversight, including authority to suspend licenses for non-payment of assessments and establish forfeiture penalties up to 5% per month.

TIMELINE

Added an effective date of July 1, 2025, and established a 180-day deadline for the association to submit its initial plan of operation.

TECHNICAL

Reformatted the document structure, renumbered sections, and removed page headers/footers while preserving all substantive legislative content.

Floor votes · House Feb 10, 2025

How they voted

113–2

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 119

Feb 10, 2025

D Democratic39

37 Yea 1 Nay 1

94% Yea

I Independent2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican78

74 Yea 1 Nay 3

94% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 17, 2025

Committee

Referred To Insurance;Appropriations

upper

Feb 11, 2025

Introduced

Transmitted To Senate

lower

Feb 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed

lower

Feb 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass Comm Sub

lower

Jan 20, 2025

Committee

Referred To Insurance;Appropriations C

lower

0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

What changed between versions

How they voted

Actions timeline

Sponsors