With two days remaining in the Regular Session, the House and Senate are struggling to find consensus on what could be the state's biggest pocketbook issue: property insurance.
Bills to prioritize applicants for a program to harden homes against storms, allow surplus lines insurers to take over some secondary homes covered by state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., and require insurers to report more data more frequently to the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) could falter in the final stages amid disagreements between the chambers.
On Wednesday, each chamber amended property insurance bills that had already passed the other chamber, "bouncing" the legislation back across the hall.
The House sent back SB 7028 to the Senate, including an amendment doubling the funding for the My Safe Florida Homes program from $100 million to $200 million. The program provides matching grants to homeowners looking to harden their homes against storms. Other parts of the bill prioritize applicants by age and income, with low-income homeowners older than 60 given the first shot at the funds.
The Senate is likely to pass that bill, but the chambers are clashing over two other measures.
The Senate amended HB 1503, which allows lightly regulated surplus lines insurers to take over secondary homes in Citizens, sending it back to the House. The companies must be "A"-rated by the AM Best ratings agency and OIR must approve the take out plan.
The amendment ensured that only non-homesteaded homes would be eligible to be assumed by a surplus lines company. Critics of the move have noted surplus lines companies are not regulated by OIR like admitted carriers, don't have their rates approved by OIR, and homeowners must sue them in a different state if a dispute over a claim arises.
And on HB 1611, a large insurance package requiring insurers to report more data to OIR on a monthly, rather than quarterly basis, the Senate removed a provision allowing nursing homes to self-insure. Another piece of the bill prohibits insurers from canceling or nonrenewing coverage on a home that was damaged by a hurricane and under a state of emergency for 90 days after the repairs to the home are completed.
Sen. Jay Trumbull, a Panama City Republican sponsoring the bill, also added a provision allowing the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association to spend 100% of its surplus, but also requiring the group to issue a report on its actuarial soundness by Sept. 1.
The moves put the bills in jeopardy if a consensus isn't reached in the final two days of the Session.
Rates have skyrocketed in recent years and seven companies have gone bust, a result of devastating hurricanes, jumps in reinsurance rates and, insurers argued, rampant lawsuits.
Democrats have chided Republicans in charge of the Legislature for focusing on social, "culture war" issues at the expense of material issues like insurance. But GOP leaders have pointed to major changes passed within the last two years taking aim at attorneys fees and lawsuits, saying more time is needed to let the market react to the new laws and let the courts clear the backlog of ongoing cases.
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