Editorial l Lawmakers must do more in insurance reform

For the second time this year, the state legislature meets in a special session to address the burgeoning issues plaguing the property insurance marketplace.

Within a span of 48 hours, the lawmakers proclaimed a victory for the citizens who have been dealing with the highest home insurance rates in the country, coverage continues to be dropped, rates continue to rise to levels that make home insurance become increasingly unaffordable, and companies are going belly up, something has to be done.

Lawmakers are assuring us the changes will correct those issues, but it'll take time for us to reap the benefits of said changes.

While the bill, aimed at stabilizing the state's troubled insurance market, eliminates "one-way attorney fees" and the assignment of benefits. It also pumps another $1 billion in taxpayer money for insurers to buy reinsurance and allocates $1.7 million for the Office of Insurance Regulation to investigate bad faith carriers but doesn't mandate the agency to enforce insurance laws.

The bill also increases costs for some homeowners insured by state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Democrats contend the bill lopsidedly favors the industry and provides another bailout without offering any immediate or guaranteed relief for policyholders whose insurance rates have doubled in the past few years and are on average three times higher than anywhere else.

The Legislature failed to address consumer complaints, once again heeding the cries of insurance industry arguments.

It's hard to fathom lawmakers were able to solve 30 years of issues in a span of 48 hours.

The Legislature ignored our pleas to work with representatives of insurance companies, insurance agencies, legal firms, citizen groups and others directly involved in the industry.

We realize it's not an easy task, because each group has its own parochial interest, but it is our hope that everyone with an interest in the outcome will recognize that the state cannot continue to watch companies losing money, homeowners unable to pay premiums and/or losing coverage and companies shutting down.

We are certainly not experts in property insurance, but it is clear, lawmakers will need to address this again in March when it meets for its regular legislative session. The only real answer is substantive reform that seriously addresses the root causes of the industry's instability.

We recognize this is a big job and we hope our governor and legislature are up to the task.