EDITORIAL: Brandes fighting to solve insurance woes

OUR POSITION: It's good news that someone is pushing the Florida Legislature and the governor to address the property insurance cost problem.

We don't know Florida State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg. But we like him.

Maybe it's because Brandes is finishing his final term — losing his seat because of term limits — but whatever the reason, he has shown a resolve to solving problems this past year. And, he was not afraid to step on some toes.

While no one will ever accuse him of being a RINO, he has a penchant for doing what appears to be in the best interests of his constituents and not blindly following the pack.

Right now, his push to call a second special session to deal with the state's property insurance crisis is paying off.

He, and we, were hoping that would be taken care of in the special session Gov. Ron DeSantis called for later this month. House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, poured cold water on that idea when he said lawmakers would need the entire session to work on redrawing and compromising on congressional maps the Legislature and the governor cannot agree on.

But Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis, under pressure from several camps, said he will support a special session to look at property insurance reform if the Legislature has something it can present.

"I absolutely support what Sen. Brandes is doing," DeSantis said Monday. "I think it's just a matter of, as you remember, it kind of fell apart at the end of the session. So, we just want to make sure that we have a product that will pass muster." Brandes had taken on the challenge of polling members of the Senate and House to schedule a special session if legislators don't do so. He crafted a letter to Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, and Sprowls, saying "Floridians are suffering from skyrocketing rate increases" and added that he intends to take advantage of state law to try to spur a special session.

He wrote: "If you are unwilling to issue the call for a property insurance special session and the House and Senate refuse to issue a joint proclamation, I plan to pursue Section 11.011, Florida Statutes, and poll my legislative colleagues for their support of a special session on property insurance in order to prevent further collapse."

In order to accomplish his goal, Brandes had to get 20% of the Legislature to sign up to support a special session with the Department of State. If that works, the department would take seven days to poll lawmakers in an attempt to get 60% of both the House and Senate to agree.

We should add that this procedure to work around the Legislature has never been successful.

In a News Service of Florida story, Brandes said he wants to address Citizens Insurance, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and providing a "financing mechanism for insurers to access if the capital markets are not an option."

"Florida's private property insurance market has collapsed, and it is evident we must call a special session to address this dire situation," he said. "In the past 30 days, thousands of Floridians have had their homeowners insurance company exit Florida. Over 800,000 homeowners cannot find insurance aside from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation."

Brandes deserves credit for his very public effort to get lawmakers into a special session to deal with the problem. What will happen next is anyone's guess but getting DeSantis to budge on the issue was an accomplishment in itself.