Former Lawmaker Supports Continuing Reform Path
In an opinion piece in Florida Politics this week, former state Senator Garrett Richter identified Florida’s 2022 statutory reforms as the critical foundation of Florida’s improving property insurance market. He noted that from 2017 to 2022, Florida’s property insurance market devolved into one of the worst in the country. More than a dozen insurers became insolvent, remaining market participants reduced their business, and policyholders had a hard time finding coverage anywhere other than the state’s residual market.
All of this arose from the “crushing weight” of excessive litigation and fraudulent claims. Richter pointed out the numbers tell the story— Florida accounted for nearly 80% of all property insurance lawsuits in the country while making up just 9% of national claims. He noted that legal expenses — not hurricane losses — became the single biggest cost driver for insurers, forcing double- and even triple-digit rate increases for homeowners, and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state’s insurer of last resort, reached 1.5 million policies.
Senator Richter identified the 2022 reforms as the key to stopping predatory litigation, restoring stability to the market, and preventing further taxpayer-funded bailouts. With reform measures underway, Richter points out insurer insolvencies have slowed, Citizens has shrunk to 850,000 policies, and rates are steadily beginning to come down. Richter’s experience with these issues also led him to observe that perceptions of the global reinsurance market are critical to Florida’s market stability. As a result of the reforms, global markets are regaining confidence in Florida’s property insurance market. Reinsurers are now seeing a more stable environment, which makes reinsurance more available and more competitively priced for Florida insurers.
Richter cautions, however, that several bills pending in the 2025 legislative session will reverse improvements prompted by the reforms. These bills will increase the cost of insurance and reinsurance, which in the end means more costs will be passed on to policyholders. He points out these bills will directly lead to higher premiums. This in turn will lead to growth in the residual market, a growing economic threat of assessments, and an adverse impact on the real estate market.
These consequences lead Senator Richter to a simple reality: we know what works — why undo it?
Richter observes that Florida does not have an insurance problem — it has a litigation problem. He urges current lawmakers to let reforms work. He does not consider allowing the reforms work to be about protecting insurers– it is about is protecting Florida’s economy and homeowners.
The former Senator’s observations carry substantial weight as he served in the legislature immediately following the active 2004-2005 hurricane seasons until the year before Hurricane Irma. Over those years, the market faced several challenges. Whereas the 2004-2005 had adverse impacts on the market that extended for years, the current market is showing stability even after three landfalling hurricanes in Florida in 2024. This supports Senator Richter’s observations that the 2022 reforms have stabilized the Florida property market following years of turmoil. Reversing the reforms will quickly lead this market back to the unsettled state preceding 2022, increasing premiums and creating new problems with availability.
(Garrett Richter is a retired Republican lawmaker from Southwest Florida. He served as a member of the Florida Senate from 2008 to 2016, representing parts of Collier and Lee counties. He served as Senate President Pro Tempore from 2013 – 2016 and as Chair and Vice Chair of the Banking and Insurance Committee. Before being elected to the Senate, Richter served one term in the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2008.)