Florida Senator Jim Boyd has said that reforms passed by a committee of legislators this week will “help bring more stability” to the state’s insurance market, while providing more rate certainty for consumers and addressing the underlying causes of cost drivers.
Lawmakers have convened in a special session this week to review property insurance to combat rising insurance costs in Florida.
Senator Boyd presented proposed legislation that aims balance pro-consumer measures, increase the transparency in insurance claims, and provide anti-fraud and legal reforms to stabilize the market.
“All of us want a competitive and vibrant insurance market in our state,” Boyd remarked alongside the session.
“I applaud the Legislature for proposing to expand and bolster the Home Hardening priority through the $150 million My Safe Florida Home proposal,” added Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis.
“While Florida’s hardening insurance market faces challenges from a number of issues like inflation, fraud, and Mother Nature, the most important thing members can do this session is put policyholders first.”
The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) concurred that the special session held by state legislators makes “much-needed progress in substantially reforming the litigation environment that has allowed rampant lawsuit abuse in Florida in recent years and has sent the marketplace into a slow-motion collapse.”
However, the mood across the broader insurance and reinsurance industries is more muted, with many feeling that more needs to be done before firms will regain their appetite for writing risk in Florida.
Florida currently represents only 9% of property claims, but accounts for 79% of insurance lawsuits in the U.S.
The bill proposed by the special session this week seeks to correct that by canceling attorney fee multipliers and one-way attorney fee awards under an assignment of benefits, eliminating the incentive for attorneys to push fraudulent claims, while also seeking to reform Florida’s problematic bad faith laws that have enriched a select few attorneys at great cost to consumers.
“I thank Governor DeSantis for leading the charge on this effort and congratulate Legislature for putting together a legislative package that delivers important consumer protections, hold insurance companies accountable, and promotes the long-term stability of our market,” said Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier. “OIR remains committed to working closely with the Governor, Cabinet, and Legislature on enacting these reforms.”
