Property insurance issues have dominated the legislative session in nearly every year since Hurricane Andrew. If property insurance was not the most prevalent issue in a given session, it certainly ranked in the top five topics being considered. Over the last twenty years, the legislature has established the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, merged the former […]
The policy count at Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has dropped below 600,000, reaching an all-time low. Citizens was created a dozen years ago with the merger of the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association and the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association. At that time, the newly combined organization had 602,000 policies. Citizens broke that […]
After the devastating series of storms in 2004 and 2005, Florida has enjoyed a run of essentially storm-free years. This has led to improved conditions in the private insurance market, and consequently to reductions in the policy count of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Citizens therefore expects that it in 2015 it will be able to […]
Over the last few years, we have grown accustomed to talking about Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s rates being inadequate and serving as an impediment to policies finding coverage in the admitted market. However, as the rate glide path in 2010 has continued to take effect each year, an increasing number of insurers have been assuming […]
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 […]
The Florida legislature is expected to take steps this session to improve the Florida property insurance market. After a series of committee meetings, some of the ideas are beginning to take shape. According to Senate Banking & Insurance Chairman David Simmons, the committee will have a bill dealing with issues relating to Citizens Property Insurance […]
As the 2013 legislative session approaches, the respective insurance committees of the Florida Senate and House of Representatives are beginning to address issues related to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Citizens continues to take on 8000 new policies a week, and notwithstanding substantial depopulation activity late this year its policy count will drift back up as […]
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation held a public hearing today in Miami to seek additional information about Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s recommended rate filings and to allow interested parties to comment. Florida law specifies that Citizens will submit actuarially sound rates, provided that no policyholders’ rates will go up by more than 10% (with […]
The Board of Governors of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation wresteld with the difficult issue of the residual market’s rate levels at its board and committee meetings last week. Citizens’ rates receive a lot of attention in the media, and admittedly present a unique challenge for this state. Citizens has a substantial share of the market, […]
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation hosted a depopulation summit last week in Tampa. The event has been widely discussed in the media and other forums. These summaries typically provide a broad overview of the discussion, often concentrating on the public policy considerations that go along with decisions about the extent to which property insurance prices should […]