State lawmaker pushes for special session to address Florida’s property insurance woes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican, on Friday formally requested his colleagues to help his connect with for a special legislative session on property insurance plan.

Stating “we can no extended wait around on this difficulty,” Brandes distributed a “template letter” for lawmakers to send out to the Section of Point out to start a polling process to pressure a special session on the situation.

“With hurricane period approaching June 1, it is crucial that we do all the things within our electric power to ensure the persons we depict can receive insurance coverage coverage at a sensible price tag,” Brandes, who will leave office this drop since of phrase boundaries, wrote.

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With lawmakers scheduled to return to Tallahassee on April 19 for a transient unique session on congressional redistricting, Brandes declared Wednesday he would undertake the polling procedure to hold a specific session on insurance if Home Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, and Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, failed to do so.

Below regulation, Brandes would first have to get 20% of the Legislature to file guidance for a distinctive session with the Division of Condition. If the 20% mark is reached, the office would have seven days to poll lawmakers. A session would be held if it is supported by 3-fifths of the Home and a few-fifths of the Senate.

Attempts in latest many years to use the approach on other challenges have not led to special classes.

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In a concept to Residence and Senate members on Friday, Brandes, who has advocated for taking aggressive actions to address the state’s house-insurance troubles, questioned lawmakers to join his effort to deal with what he called an “impending disaster.”

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“I consider we can no for a longer time wait around on this challenge,” Brandes wrote.

Rep. Andrew Discovered, a Brandon Democrat, quickly said that Brandes could “count me in” on the effort.

“Homeowners’ insurance plan is totally out of command,” Uncovered tweeted, urging his colleagues to “work alongside one another throughout the aisle to get this finished.”

The risk of holding a unique session about home insurance policies has drawn speculation following the Home and Senate did not achieve an agreement on an insurance coverage invoice throughout the regular session that ended March 14.

[RELATED: Property insurance litigation claims decrease in last months of 2021 | Florida property insurers dropping homeowners based on roofs’ age]

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Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t include things like the problem in a particular session he has referred to as for from April 19 to April 22 to redraw congressional districts. DeSantis has explained he expects lawmakers to address insurance policy changes this calendar year, most very likely soon after new Household and Senate leaders are sworn in following the November elections.

Legislative leaders thus much have not sought to include insurance policies problems to the redistricting unique session. A week back, Sprowls reported far more time requirements to be specified to house-insurance coverage adjustments designed all through the 2021 session.

“We passed a single of the most expansive reforms to the insurance policy business that is ever been done in Florida,” Sprowls said, referring to last year’s law. “One thing that transpires, we converse about this all the time, is that it normally takes 18 months to see all those (changes) mirrored in the rates. We’re about six months out from that.”

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In 2021, lawmakers authorized changes that involved a new formulation to restrict charges of lawyers who depict homeowners in lawsuits against insurers and a reduction from three many years to two yrs in the time to file statements. They also passed a proposal aimed at blocking roofing contractors from advertising and marketing to spur property owners to file statements, while a federal courtroom has blocked that aspect of the regulation on free-speech grounds.

The legislation also permitted larger sized charge boosts for shoppers of the point out-backed Citizens House Coverage Corp., which often charges much less than personal carriers.

But quite a few non-public insurers in new months have sought hefty level increases and dropped consumers to lower monetary challenges. That has led to hundreds of property owners a week turning to Citizens for coverage, with Citizens’ complete selection of procedures envisioned to best 1 million by the end of the 12 months.

Brandes needs a exclusive session to address concerns this sort of as Citizens, the Florida Hurricane Disaster Fund and giving a “financing mechanism for insurers to obtain if the cash markets are not an solution.” He referred to as for earning “significant residence insurance reforms in buy to build a sustainable environment for Florida house owners.”

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“Florida’s non-public assets insurance plan market place has collapsed, and it is evident we must simply call a specific session to deal with this dire predicament,” Brandes wrote in letters to Sprowls and Simpson on Wednesday. “In the earlier 30 times, countless numbers of Floridians have experienced their property owners insurance policy business exit Florida. More than 800,000 property owners simply cannot uncover insurance coverage apart from Citizens Home Coverage Corporation. With the 2022 hurricane period promptly approaching and an unstable market, the Legislature chose to go away property owners uncovered to a great storm of soaring rates, minimal protection and diminishing possibilities.”