PolitiFact says what Crist says is mostly true

• Statewide, owners’ insurance coverage premiums declined 10% from 2007 to 2010.
• 2010 was Charlie Crist’s first and final full 12 months as governor.
• Experts hesitated to present Crist full credit score for the discount.
• A big share of the speed lower was due to 2006 revisions made to Florida’s windstorm mitigation credit.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist says Florida owners have one individual in charge for hovering insurance coverage premiums: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Hurricane Ian uncovered the instability of the state’s owners’ insurance coverage market; six Florida property insurers turned bancrupt in 2022, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

An ad from Crist’s marketing campaign contrasts charges beneath DeSantis with what occurred after Crist turned governor 15 years in the past.

“He’s let home insurance rates skyrocket and he raised taxes on Floridians by $1 billion,” Crist stated. “When I was your governor, we reduced insurance rates by 10%.”

PolitiFact rated an analogous declare by Crist about $1 billion-plus in new taxes Mostly False, noting that web shoppers have been presupposed to be paying the state’s gross sales tax earlier than DeSantis signed a brand new regulation to gather the tax in 2017.

In this fact-check, we’ll look at Crist’s claims about property insurance coverage, one thing he’s mentioned before.

Crist was Florida’s governor from 2007 to 2010. During his first 12 months in workplace, the state’s important motion on property insurance coverage was a invoice that briefly froze owners’ insurance coverage charges for the state-run insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and allowed it to compete with the personal market. 

The uncooked numbers supported his declare of a ten% house insurance coverage fee drop when Crist was governor, however they do not inform the total story of his lasting impression on property insurance coverage.

Why insurance coverage premiums dropped 10% by 2010

Eight hurricanes tore by Florida between 2004 and 2005, leaving owners on the hook for increased insurance coverage premiums. Ahead of the 2006 governor’s race, the insurance coverage market turned a chief concern.

Crist, then a Republican, campaigned on a promise to assist shoppers and their wallets. After taking workplace, he referred to as on the state Legislature to carry a particular session on property insurance coverage. 

Lawmakers passed HB 1A with bipartisan support, and Crist signed it into law in January 2007. The measure, partly, aimed to freeze Citizens’ charges and loosened necessities to qualify. 

Florida statutes previously required Citizens to develop charges based mostly on the state’s high insurers to keep away from competing with the personal market. HB 1A eradicated that requirement, and Citizens turned a serious competitor in the homeowners’ insurance market. 

Statewide, insurance coverage premiums beneath Citizens and personal insurers dropped from an annual common of $1,679 to $1,463 — about 13% — in 2008. Crist’s 2022 campaign website attributed that decline to HB 1A. However, consultants stated adjustments to insurance coverage regulation do not instantly have an effect on the market. 

“Typically, there is an 18-to-24-month cycle before we see impacts of insurance reform legislation in Florida,” stated Mark Friedlander, a spokesperson for the nonpartisan Insurance Information Institute. 

So, that drop seen in 2008 is extra doubtless a results of adjustments made earlier than Crist took workplace. (Still, there was a ten% decline from 2007 to 2010 — Crist’s first and final full 12 months as governor.)

A March 2010 report compiled by Risk Management Solutions, a non-public firm contracted by the state, attributed a lot of the speed decreases after 2006 to revisions made to Florida’s windstorm mitigation credit. 

Windstorm mitigation credit, which date again to 1993, are reductions offered to owners who spend money on modifications that improve their properties’ resistance to storm injury.

However, some insurers would offset their prices by imposing different charges on shoppers and it wasn’t till 2006 that the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation barred insurers from doing that. Such revisions led to a marked decline in insurance coverage premiums, the report found. 

The common owners’ insurance coverage premium declined 3% from 2008 to 2009. But falling charges have been short-lived. Private insurers stated they may not compete with Citizens’ frozen charges, a report from the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology discovered. 

Citizens swelled by about 400,000 extra insurance policies between 2004 and 2007, for a complete of 1.2 million properties covered in 2010.

Luckily for Floridians, and the insurance coverage market beneath Crist, there have been no main hurricanes throughout Crist’s tenure. If there had been, Citizens doubtless would have been unable to cowl claims, the Insurance Journal reported in 2014.

In 2009, Crist signed HB 1495 to finish the speed freeze and permit Citizens to extend owners’ insurance coverage premiums; the regulation capped rate increases to 10% till Citizens turned actuarially sound, or according to personal insurers’ pricing practices.

Florida Insurance charges beneath DeSantis

Florida’s property insurance coverage charges are actually among the many highest within the U.S. The common owners’ premium in Florida is $4,231, the Insurance Information Institute reported. 

“Nearly all of the reforms that became law in 2007 that insurers didn’t like have either been repealed or are not being enforced,” stated Sam Ramirez, a Crist spokesperson.

Still, a report by the Florida State University danger administration and insurance coverage program stated the lasting results of Crist’s 2007 regulation “can still be seen today as Citizens rates remain below actuarially adequate levels in many areas of the state.”

Experts stated DeSantis didn’t trigger Florida’s insurance coverage market woes, however he hasn’t achieved a lot to handle the issue. 

“It’s hard to say we don’t have a more vibrant insurance market because of something DeSantis has done,” stated Patricia Born, professor at Florida State University’s Risk Management Program. “It’s more about what he hasn’t done.”

Although DeSantis called on the Legislature to carry a particular session for property insurance coverage in April, the legal guidelines handed throughout the three-day session didn’t assure shoppers would obtain premium aid. 

Friedlander, of the Insurance Information Institute, stated, “excessive litigation” filed towards insurers performs a big position within the fee will increase. Florida accounted for 79% of all U.S. owners insurance coverage declare lawsuits, according to DeSantis’ office.

Our ruling 

Crist stated he “reduced insurance rates by 10%.”

Crist in 2007 signed a regulation that froze charges for Citizens, the state-run insurer. Homeowners’ insurance coverage charges initially fell then rose, leaving an general discount of 10% by the point Crist left workplace.

Experts hesitated to present Crist full credit score for the discount, saying a big share of credit score was attributable to revisions made to Florida’s windstorm mitigation credit in 2006. It’s additionally price remembering that no main hurricane struck Florida throughout Crist’s tenure. 

Crist’s actions seem like partially accountable for the 10-percent drop, although he doubtless attributed an excessive amount of of an impression to his insurance policies. With that clarification, we fee the declare Mostly True.