On a vote of 27 to 4, the Texas Senate accepted a compromise to fund the Texas Wind Insurance Association that apparently required input from most of the membership, judging from the accolades passed around at the end of the debate. It was a friendly end to an acrimonious issue, which pit coastal senators against Sen. Troy Fraser, who initially proposed hefty surcharges on coastal residents. Sen. Mike Jackson’s slightly acerbic comments to Fraser complimenting the compromise spoke volumes: “Thank you for doing an about-face.” Instead of surcharges, the bill allows rates to rise to “actuarial soundness” over the next three years to rebuild a fund devastated by Hurricane Ike. The Senate rejected an effort by Sen. Juan Hinojosa to spread out the rate hikes over a five-year period instead.