The Florida legislature has released its multi-faceted proposals for reforming Florida’s property insurance market. The proposed legislation includes temporarily expanding available capacity from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, incentivizing loss mitigation through windstorm protective devices, increasing regulatory oversight for distressed insurers, and curbing Florida’s litigation crisis by rebalancing attorneys’ fee incentives. To effectively address Florida’s […]
The Florida House of Representatives and Senate have released their proposals for next week’s special session on property insurance reform. The special session follows last month’s call from Governor Ron DeSantis for a special session dealing with the crisis in Florida’s residential property insurance market. Reinsurance Protection Although their proposals are subject to change when […]
Governor Ron DeSantis’ proclamation declaring a special session on property insurance identifies its scope and provides insight into the upcoming debate. The proclamation specifies the special session will consider (a) property insurance, (b) reinsurance, (c) changes to the Florida Building Code to improve the affordability of property insurance, (d) the Office of Insurance Regulation, (e) […]
The residential insurance market in Florida has experienced years of deterioration resulting in decreased availability of private market options, reductions in coverage and rising insurance premiums. As has been well established by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and others, Florida never really had a sinkhole problem, a mold problem, or a water damage problem…. […]
A proposal in the Senate (SB 1402) and House (HB 951) would authorize “domestic surplus lines insurers” to issue policies in Florida. Although the bills are in their early stages of consideration, the Senate version recently passed the Banking and Insurance Committee with a 9-0 vote. Currently, because surplus lines insurers issuing policies in Florida […]
Effective January 1, 2022, insurers using credit reports or credit scoring for underwriting or rating purposes must provide a new notice to consumers. The notice must state: The Department of Financial Services offers free financial literacy programs to assist you with insurance-related questions, including how credit works and how credit scores are calculated. To learn […]
The new year brings the initial reporting period for a new closed claim reporting obligation applicable to residential property insurers. In the 2021 legislative session, the Florida Legislature adopted SB 76 which, among other things, amends Section 624.424 pertaining to insurers’ annual statements. The new requirement specifies that beginning January 1, 2022, each authorized residential […]
The new year will get off to a fast start in Florida governmental affairs and promises to active at least until we approach the next holiday season. This year is an election year in Florida. This means the Florida legislature will meet early in the year, with the session beginning January 11. The 60-day session […]
The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) projects that will be able to satisfy its $17 billion in single-season reimbursement obligations if called upon. The FHCF releases its estimated claims-paying capacity in May and October of each year. In its October estimate, the FHCF anticipates it would reach the $17 billion single season cap through $11.3 […]
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) will hold a public hearing at 10:00 a.m. on October 14 to receive input regarding the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s (NCCI’s) recent rate filing proposing an average decrease of 4.9%. According to NCCI, in 2020 the workers’ compensation insurance industry posted its fourth consecutive year of underwriting […]
