Florida lawmakers set to meet on ailing insurance market

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Legislature will meet subsequent week for a particular session on property insurance and property tax reduction within the wake of injury brought on by Hurricane Ian, officers introduced Tuesday.

The leaders of the Florida House and Senate issued the proclamation convening the Legislature from Dec. 12 to 16.

Lawmakers will probably be tasked with reforming components of the state’s troubled property insurance market, offering tax or different monetary reduction associated to injury from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, and making a toll credit score program for frequent Florida commuters.

The session comes as Florida’s property insurance market has handled billions of {dollars} in losses, rising costs for customers and insurer insolvencies, even earlier than the highly effective Hurricane Ian slammed into the state in September and brought about widespread injury.

Next week’s particular session would be the second time the Florida Legislature met this 12 months to tackle points within the property insurance market.

Lawmakers in May handed laws making a $2 billion reinsurance program, providing grants to householders who retrofit properties to be much less susceptible to hurricane injury and limiting varied legal professional charges in some insurance-related lawsuits.

The legislative bundle was seen by many within the statehouse as a significant first step in repairing the market, although some stated it didn’t do sufficient to instantly decrease charges for householders.

The insurance trade blames overzealous litigation for issues within the market. Florida regulation permits attorneys to accumulate excessive charges in property insurance instances. State insurance regulators say the state accounts for nearly 80% p.c of the nation’s householders’ insurance lawsuits however simply 9% of all householders insurance claims.

Attorneys’ teams have argued insurers are additionally to blame for refusing to pay out claims, saying householders file go well with as a final resort.

The turmoil has brought about the trade to see two straight years of internet underwriting losses exceeding $1 billion every year. A string of property insurers have develop into bancrupt, whereas others are leaving the state fully.

Homeowners unable to get protection or priced out of plans have flocked to the state’s public insurer of final resort, Citizens Property Insurance, which this summer season topped 1 million insurance policies for the primary time in nearly a decade.

Citizens Property Insurance was created by the state in 2002 for Floridians unable to discover protection from personal insurers.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in October signed an government order extending the deadline for property taxes for properties and companies destroyed or left uninhabitable after Ian and stated lawmakers would meet this 12 months to tackle extra points associated to the storm.

The governor’s workplace in a press release Tuesday stated DeSantis “expects the legislature to rein in the costs of excessive litigation and ensure the property insurance market in Florida is both attractive to insurers and more competitive for consumers.”

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