News & Updates

special session

Special Session Includes Post-Hurricane Relief

Special Session Includes Post-Hurricane Relief

The Florida legislature will convene this week in a brief special session addressing a limited number of topics. Among these, the legislature is expected to provide additional relief for areas affected by Hurricane Idalia and increase funding for the My Safe Florida Home program. Hurricane Idalia had a substantial impact on some of Florida’s rural […]

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Assignment Limitations Begin with New Year

Assignment Limitations Begin with New Year

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 […]

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New Year Brings Key Personnel Changes

New Year Brings Key Personnel Changes

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 […]

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Special Session to Begin December 12

Special Session to Begin December 12

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 […]

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Citizens Continues to Outpace Private Market Writings

Citizens Continues to Outpace Private Market Writings

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 […]

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Lawsuits Continue to Plague Property Market

Lawsuits Continue to Plague Property 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 […]

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Lawsuits Target Special Session Reforms

Lawsuits Target Special Session Reforms

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 […]

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Citizens Property Insurance Policy Count Continues to Increase

Citizens Property Insurance Policy Count Continues to Increase

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation continues to add policies at an alarming pace at the onset of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.  Citizens recently hit a weekly total of 12,000 new policies as its total policy count approaches 900,000.  With Citizens being the largest residential insurer in Florida, its current policy count is much higher than […]

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Effective Dates Key to Special Session Reforms

Effective Dates Key to Special Session Reforms

The Florida legislature has released its multi-faceted proposals for reforming Florida’s property insurance market.  The proposed legislation includes temporarily expanding available capacity from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, incentivizing loss mitigation through windstorm protective devices, increasing regulatory oversight for distressed insurers, and curbing Florida’s litigation crisis by rebalancing attorneys’ fee incentives. To effectively address Florida’s […]

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