Florida News in Brief

Bill seeks to aid church securityTALLAHASSEE (NSF) — Addressing what supporters described as a "gray area" in the law, a Senate committee last week approved a bill that would allow volunteer security guards at houses of worship to carry guns without facing state licensing requirements. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee unanimously backed the bill (SB 52), sponsored by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

The bill would create an exemption to licensing requirements for armed security officers and would apply to volunteers at churches, mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship. State law allows people to carry concealed weapons at houses of worship, but Joshua Burdick, care pastor at Campus Church in Pensacola, said licensing requirements could be triggered for people deemed volunteer security officers. He said a "significant gray area hinders our ability to protect our church responsibly."

Gaetz's bill is filed for the legislative session that will start Tuesday. Rep. J.J. Grow, R-Inverness, has filed a similar bill (HB 95) in the House.

Bigger Citizens rate cut backedTALLAHASSEE (NSF) — Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky on Monday said customers of the state's Citizens Property Insurance Corp. should receive an average 8.7 percent rate reduction, a larger cut than Citizens leaders proposed in December.

"We feel confident as we go forward that these rates are in fact actuarially sound, this is the correct number to have and Citizens will remain well-capitalized and able to take on future risks that are associated with it for those policyholders," Yaworsky said during a news conference with Gov. Ron DeSantis at Broward College in Davie.

In December, the Citizens Board of Governors approved a plan that included a proposed statewide average decrease of 2.6 percent in rates for personal residential policies. That included proposing an average 4.1 decrease for the most-common type of homeowners policies, known as multi-peril policies. DeSantis called Citizens' proposed numbers "milquetoast." Citizens proposes rates each year, with Yaworsky's Office of Insurance Regulation able to approve, reject or require changes in the proposals.

"I think Mike (Yaworsky) really went in with his team and said, 'OK, they've (Citizens has) lost almost a million policies. They were getting all those premiums for all those policies now their exposure is less,'" DeSantis said. "You're seeing in these three counties (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach) much less litigation abuse than you had seen previously."

Actual rate changes for policyholders vary based on factors such as policy types and locations – with some policyholders potentially seeing increases. Citizens officials said their proposal to ease rates for many customers stemmed largely from changes that the Legislature and DeSantis approved in 2022 to curb costly lawsuits against insurers.

Citizens was created as an insurer of last resort but saw explosive growth starting in 2020 and 2021 because of financial problems in the private market. It became the state's largest insurer, with as many as 1.4 million customers in 2023. Citizens started 2026 with 395,144 policies, after what is known as a "depopulation" program steadily shifted policies into the private market over the past two years.