News & Updates

Citizens

Citizens Promotes Clearinghouse

Citizens Promotes Clearinghouse

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is seeking to discuss its anticipated new clearinghouse with interested insurers.  The clearinghouse concept, adopted by the 2013 Florida legislature, will facilitate offers of coverage from admitted market insurers for new and renewal Citizens business.  A participating insurer will provide its underwriting criteria to the program to enable the clearinghouse to […]

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Governor Signs Property Bill

Governor Signs Property Bill

Governor Rick Scott has signed SB 1770 into law.  At the outset of the 2013 legislative session, SB 1770 contained an ambitious set of reforms designed to reduce the size of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and reduce the degree to which it competes with the admitted market.  The final package, however, contained a milder set of compromise […]

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Citizens-Lite Bill Heads to Governor

Citizens-Lite Bill Heads to Governor

After months of committee meetings and discussions, the Florida legislature reached compromises on changes to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation in SB 1770.  The bill now heads to Governor Scott’s desk for review.  The months leading up to the 2013 legislative session included discussion of far-reaching proposals that would aggressively restore Citizens to its role as […]

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Busy Week for Insurance Legislation

Busy Week for Insurance Legislation

Several legislative committees will hear bills this week relating to key insurance issues.  The House Banking and Insurance Subcommittee is expected to consider a bill allowing commercial motor vehicle and personal lines property and casualty insurance policies to be posted to the Internet rather than physically delivered in certain circumstances.  The House committee also is […]

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Editorial Makes Key Points About Citizens Reform

Editorial Makes Key Points About Citizens Reform

The Tallahassee Democrat’s editorial this morning entitled “Controlling Citizens” makes some important points about the current state of the supposed residual market.  The theme of the editorial is that policymakers should make Citizens Property Insurance Corporation an insurer of “last resort” again.  The editorial points out that 23 percent of Florida properties are insured by […]

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Bills Highlight Differences of Opinion on Citizens Rates

Bills Highlight Differences of Opinion on Citizens Rates

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation often finds itself in the middle of widely varying opinions on how it should conduct its business.  For everyone who says Citizens should reduce its size, someone else will say that Citizens indeed should offer below-market insurance products to consumers.  The result, at least currently, is that Florida has a residual […]

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Atwater Wants Cabinet Oversight of Citizens Inspector General

Atwater Wants Cabinet Oversight of Citizens Inspector General

Chief Financial Office Jeff Atwater has suggested that the Governor and Cabinet, serving as the Financial Services Commission, oversee the selection of an Inspector General to review Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.  Atwater also wants the Inspector General to report to the Financial Services Commission for at least 12 months. Governor Rick Scott recently called for […]

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Office of Insurance Regulation Establishes Commercial Rates for Citizens

Office of Insurance Regulation Establishes Commercial Rates for Citizens

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has established the commercial rates for 2013 for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.  The OIR’s action follows recent orders relating to Citizens’ personal residential product lines. Under the OIR’s order on Citizens’ commercial rates, it approved a 9.9% average increase for condominium association policies, as compared to the 11% increased […]

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Assumption Requests Top 300,000

Assumption Requests Top 300,000

Two insurers have been authorized to assume up to a combined 100,000 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation in December 2012, on the heels of assumption requests for November totaling up to 210,000 policies.  With almost 90,000 policies removed earlier this year, private market interest in Citizens assumptions is up dramatically this year compared to […]

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Citizens to Obtain Review of Surplus Note Program

Citizens to Obtain Review of Surplus Note Program

The Board of Governors of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has agreed to spend $200,000 for a review of its proposed surplus note program by Goldman Sachs.  In addition, the board authorized up to $200,000 for another review by a firm with actuarial experience. The surplus note program would allocate up to $350 million of Citizens’ surplus to companies seeking to […]

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