Senator pitches home-hardening tax break

TALLAHASSEE - A key senator on Wednesday suggested that lawmakers should consider a property tax break, which could be spread over a number of years, for people who try to make older homes more storm resilient.

The proposal floated by Florida Senate Banking and Insurance Chairman Blaise Ingoglia comes as lawmakers in recent years have passed a series of measures aimed at trying to stabilize the state's property insurance market.

Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, encouraged his colleagues to consider additional ways to save homeowners money while also protecting governments from costs related to disaster restoration.

"If we can get those older homes to be more resilient, it will save local governments a lot of money," Ingoglia said during an appearance at the 2024 Florida Chamber of Commerce's annual insurance summit in Orlando. "And the most important thing, from the homeowners' perspective, they will have a home that is now resilient, that they don't have to pay a ton of money for insurance premiums."

Ingoglia's plan, targeted at homes built in the 1980s or earlier, would freeze local property taxes for 15 to 20 years in exchange for upgrading the residences to comply with current building standards.

Ingoglia said he thought of the proposal after surveying damages along the Gulf Coast following Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

"Everything that is built to today's building codes, in today's elevations, was pretty much fine. It had some damage, but it wasn't catastrophic damage," Ingoglia said.

Helene came ashore in Taylor County on Sept. 26 with 140 mph sustained winds, making it the third hurricane to hit the Big Bend region in 13 months. Thirteen days later, Milton made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County and caused widespread damage throughout the state.

Most of the damage along the Gulf Coast affected older homes that were constructed at sea-level elevation, Ingoglia said. Newer building codes require homes that could be susceptible to storm surges to be elevated.

"It was very apparent to me that that's where all the losses were. That's where the insurance losses were. That's where the losses for the homeowners were. That's where money was put up by local government, state government and federal government," he added.

Ingoglia, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, hasn't filed legislation for the proposal and conceded that his "out of the box" idea doesn't have the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis or Senate leadership.

F l o r i d a E m e r g e n c y Management Director Kevin Guthrie also appeared at the Chamber's insurance event Wednesday.

According to Guthrie, the state is on the "cusp" of finalizing a new program with the U.S. Small Business Administration aimed at assisting homeowners who are trying to rebuild from recent hurricanes and strengthen their homes.

"We are working with our federal counterparts, along with the folks here in the state of Florida, to do some new things that are going to directly impact homeowners and are going to directly impact their insurance rates and their National Flood Insurance Program. So, more to come," Guthrie said.

Lawmakers have taken a number of steps over the past few years to address the insurance issue, as insurance companies left the state and homeowners' premiums soared.

As an example, the Legislature in 2022 provided $2 billion to help insurers with reinsurance, which is critical backup coverage for insurance companies. Lawmakers provided another $1 billion for reinsurance in 2023.

Lawmakers also have passed measures aimed at shifting policies from the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. into the private market.

The Republican-controlled Legislature also approved proposals seeking to limit lawsuits over property insurance. Such efforts included eliminating what are known as "one-way attorney fees" in an effort to reduce litigation costs and doing away with the long-controversial practice of assignment of benefits for property-insurance claims. Assignment of benefits involves policyholders signing over claims to contractors, who then pursue payment from insurers. Insurers contend the practice led to increased lawsuits.

Albritton, R-Wauchula, highlighted the insurance issue during his opening address to senators last month. Albritton said lawmakers need to hold the insurance industry accountable as homeowners struggle with affordability and the state recovers from a series of hurricanes over the past several years.