The campaign commercials on TV are a constant reminder that the fall election cycle is rapidly approaching. The presidential election commands most of the attention, but state legislative races have the most immediate bearing on insurance legislation in this state. As soon as the winners emerge from this fall’s elections, the legislature will hold and […]
Rate levels for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation once again will be in the spotlight this week. The board of governors will hold a workshop to discuss Citizens’ rate levels for the upcoming year. Under Florida law, Citizens submits recommended rates to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, which then is responsible for approving Citizens’ final […]
The Tampa Bay Times published an interview with Insurance Consumer Advocate Robin Westcott today covering a range of topics. Among the topics discussed, the Tampa Bay Times asked whether she sees the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act is a positive or negative for consumers. Ms. Westcott commented, “I’m concerned about the […]
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is implementing a reduced blackout window for insurer assumptions. The blackout window recognizes that Citizens must process and mail nonrenewal notices in connection with the assumptions, so insurers can choose only those policies with expiration dates far enough in the future to allow proper notice. Senate Bill 408 allows Citizens to reduce […]
After 30 days on the job, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s CEO Barry Gilway has identified reduction of the Personal Lines Account (PLA) as step one in restoring Citizens’ role as a residual market. By concentrating efforts on reducing the PLA by 500,000 policies, Citizens’ policy count would drop below 1 million policies. Gilway and Citizens hope to […]
Florida’s administrative rule providing guidelines for insurer penalties might go by the wayside under a proposal by the Office of Insurance Regulation. The agenda for today’s Cabinet meeting indicates that the OIR will seek authority to repeal the existing rule, 69O-142.011. The rule has been in effect since November 6, 1994. The repeal of this […]
Representative Bryan Nelson and Senator Garrett Richter have released a white paper entitled, “How Critical is Property Insurance in Florida?” drawing attention to Florida’s reliance on assessment (taxing) mechanisms to prop up the state’s insurance market. Nelson and Richter point out that Florida is making promises through three government-run entities that the state probably will […]
Policymakers, industry representatives and other interested parties continue to discuss the role of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation in the Florida market and opportunities that might exist to reduce its size. Various parties have proposed ideas for encouraging the admitted market to write more business or to take policies out of Citizens. Citizens officials recently convened […]
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation continues to encourage insurers writing commercial property and casualty insurance to consider the forms certification process to help reduce the filing backlog. Over the last two years, the Florida legislature has reduced the rate filing requirements associated with certain types of commercial property and casualty insurance. Earlier this year […]
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s property and casualty product review section discussed the most common filing mistakes at the OIR’s recent business development conference. The current backlog of property and casualty form filings is a concern of both the OIR and the industry, and the OIR hopes that identifying common filing mistakes can play […]