The Florida legislature passed significant property insurance reforms in its December 2022 special session. Governor Ron DeSantis promptly signed these reforms into law, with many taking effect immediately upon the law’s effective date. However, a key change related to assignments of benefits (AOB) begins to have its real impact in the new year. For many […]
The new year will bring personnel changes at key insurance-related organizations in Florida. Perhaps most notably, Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier stepped down effective December 28, 2022. Commissioner Altmaier first joined the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in 2008. He held several roles within the property and casualty financial oversight area, including Chief Analyst. He then […]
The Florida legislature will convene in a special session from December 12, 2022, through December 16, 2022. The special session is expected to include consideration of property tax relief for Floridians affected by Hurricane Ian as well as property insurance reforms. Governor Ron DeSantis has mentioned in recent weeks that he anticipated a special session […]
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation continues to take on policies at an alarming rate and its premium levels undercut the private market. At latest count, Citizens had almost 1.13 million policies. This is an increase of about 100,000 policies in the last three months. Since last November, Citizens has grown by nearly 400,000 policies. Even more […]
Incumbent Governor Ron DeSantis soundly defeated Charlie Crist in Florida’s race for Governor, leading a Republican sweep of the state’s top elected offices. Current Chief Financial Officer prevailed in his bid for another term, as did incumbent Attorney General Ashley Moody. They are joined by Republican Wilton Simpson, the outgoing Senate president who won an […]
Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) will be making $5 million in disaster recovery funds available to local housing partners to help Floridians with their hurricane deductibles. The assistance will be available in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Lee, and Sarasota counties. Affected individuals may apply through FHFC’s local housing partners. FHFC […]
The policy count of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation reached 1,064,000 as of the end of last week as Ian began to organize. This represented an increase of 9,000 policies over the prior week’s policy count. The recent policy count underscores the substantial growth Citizens has seen as a result of problems plaguing the Florida market […]
The Florida property insurance market continues to experience reduced availability and increasing prices due to extraordinary litigation levels. Widely-discussed sources show that Florida has nearly 80% of the nation’s property insurance litigation despite having less than ten percent of the countrywide claims. Stated differently, Florida had about 100,000 lawsuits last year, which vastly outpaced the […]
The disparity between Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s rates and those in the admitted market is likely to grow. Premiums have increased significantly in the admitted market in recent years, driven by well-documented problems with inflated, represented and litigated claims. These concerns have been compounded by broader inflationary pressures in the economy, including supply chain disruptions […]
In late May, the Florida legislature passed several measures intended to address continuing concerns with Florida’s residential property insurance market. Lawmakers commented that the new laws will not provide quick fixes; instead, the benefits might take 12-18 months to materialize. Unfortunately, this estimate might prove to be optimistic as two lawsuits have been filed challenging […]