Florida lawmakers OK insurance changes with no help for homeowners

TALLAHASSEE — The Republican-led Legislature approved a bill Wednesday that lawmakers say will prop up Florida’s crumbling property insurance market but not provide immediate relief for homeowners faced with exorbitant premium hikes and canceled policies.

The House voted 84-33 along party lines to approve the same bill the Senate approved the day before. Two Democrats, Reps. Bruce Antone of Orlando and Alison Tant of Tallahassee, did not vote.

The House also voted unanimously in favor of a $750 million disaster relief program that includes property tax breaks for properties damaged or destroyed by natural disasters and a $500 million toll-road discount program for high-use commuters.

Having completed its agenda for the special session, the Legislature adjourned Wednesday afternoon.

The bills go next to Gov. Ron DeSantis for this signature. His office could not be reached for immediate comment.

“What this bill signifies to me is hope, hope and a plan to make sure we are doing everything we can to repair a broken property insurance market,” said Rep. Tom Leek, sponsor of the House version of the insurance bill. “When we create stability, we increase capacity.”

The session was called after Florida was hit with two powerful hurricanes in a row, the historically devastating Ian and the lesser Nicole, and producing thousands of claims in their wake. It also came at a time when seven companies announced they were either folding or pulling out of Florida.

Republican lawmakers said the insurance bill builds on previous changes to stabilize the market, including those approved in a special session in May that pruned back lawyer fees and provided a $2 billion reinsurance fund.

But even Republicans said those measures amounted to no more than nibbling around the edges.

“In the bill, we all see some of the problems, but there are some things we are not going to fix,” Rep. Bob Rommel, R-Naples. “It’s human nature.”

The latest bill pumps another $1 billion in taxpayer money for insurers to buy reinsurance, something they get to protect them from hurricanes and other catastrophes.

It also targeted trial lawyers and roofers that have filed lawsuits on behalf of homeowners, without addressing companies that refuse or delay paying legitimate claims. It eliminates one-way lawyers’ fees and “assignment of benefits” — a law that allows homeowners to have their insurance benefits paid directly to their contractors.

It also forces more people out of Citizens, the state-backed insurance company of last resort, which has seen its policyholders more than double to 1.1 million in the last two years.

And it 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.

Proponents say the changes will stabilize the marketplace and mitigate what they contend is the major cause of rising insurance rates in Florida, the hundreds of thousands of lawsuits filed over claims that Republicans have called call fraudulent and opportunistic. Ultimately, they predict, the rates will eventually go down for consumers.

Democrats have said the bill is lopsidedly in favor of the industry, providing yet another bailout without offering any immediate or guaranteed relief for policyholders whose insurance rates have doubled in the last few years and are on average three times higher than anywhere else in the United States.

“The people of Florida need relief,” said Rep. Marie Woodson, D-Hollywood. “So many people are struggling to afford the premiums and find coverage. If we don’t come up with short-term solution right now, we are going to pay a lot more on the back end.”

Opponents also argued that the bill is restricting access to the courts by adding unnecessary hurdles to filing bad faith lawsuits and forcing them to pay their attorneys out of their settlements instead of separately.

The measure also doesn’t address the fraud and bad faith among insurance companies that fail to pay out claims on time as state law requires, they said.

“We offered you alternatives. We offered you amendments, we offered you our Triple-A plan for affordability, accountability, and it was denied,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando. “I know we’re in the minority, but we have ideas. Each one of us was elected to work on these issues alongside you. Let’s work together.”

Reinsurance, what insurance companies buy to protect themselves from the huge payouts that come from catastrophic events such as hurricanes, is a bigger driver of rising costs, and accounts for 49% of the premiums Floridians currently pay.

“The only way our constituents back home are going to see any rate savings as required by law is when insurance companies save money on reinsurance,” said Rep. Hillary Cassel, D-Dania Beach. “This is the only mechanism where they will see immediate relief and money back in their markets.”

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