Committee Meetings Begin with Property Market Overview
The Florida legislature is returning to Tallahassee and preparing for its upcoming 2021 legislative session. Several key legislative committees hold hearings this week including the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.
The agenda for this week’s Banking and Insurance Committee meeting consists of presentations by Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier and President and Chief Executive Office of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Barry Gilway. Commissioner Altmaier is expected to provide an overview of the Florida property insurance market. The current market is characterized by rising rates and increasing reinsurance costs. These conditions are triggered in large part by increased losses and loss adjustment expenses due to a proliferation of first-party litigation.
Barry Gilway will discuss Citizens’ role in this current market. Citizens has indicated in recent months that its policy count is increasing as its legislatively-capped rates fail to keep pace with changes in admitted market rates. Citizens continues to experience the same, or greater, challenges in areas such as first-party litigation as are being experienced in the primary market.
Together, Commissioner Altmaier and Mr. Gilway will provide a backdrop against which the 2021 legislature will face important policy considerations in the property market.