Property insurance bill that allows for larger Citizens rate hikes clears Florida Legislature
News Herald (Panama City, FL)
May 1 An overhaul of
Florida s property insurance regulations that allows for larger rate hikes at state-run
Citizens Property Insurance and makes other changes pitched as a lifeline for struggling private insurers cleared the Florida Legislature Friday.
Private property insurers have been raising rates as they complain about litigation costs, prompting lawmakers to respond. Supporters of the insurance bill say it will keep rates down by targeting what they describe as unscrupulous legal practices. I think you ll start to see the return to a vibrant insurance market, said bill sponsor Sen.
Florida lawmakers put brakes on âNo Faultâ auto insurance
In a bill that now goes to Gov. Ron DeSantis, the requirement for carrying so-called PIP coverage would end and motorists would need to have bodily-injury coverage.
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By Jim Turner
Updated Apr. 30
TALLAHASSEE â Florida motorists are one step closer to no longer having âno faultâ auto insurance, after lawmakers Friday approved ditching the decades-old system and its requirement of carrying personal-injury protection coverage.
The House and Senate signed off on a heavily negotiated bill (SB 54) in the closing hours of the 2021 legislative session. If the bill is signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the requirement for carrying so-called PIP coverage would end and motorists would need to have bodily-injury coverage.
TALLAHASSEE Florida motorists are one step closer to no longer having “no fault” auto insurance, after lawmakers Friday approved ditching the decades-old system and its requirement of carrying personal-injury protection coverage.
The House and Senate signed off on a heavily negotiated bill (SB 54) in the closing hours of the 2021 legislative session. If the bill is signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the requirement for carrying so-called PIP coverage would end and motorists would need to have bodily-injury coverage.
“You may not like every bit of this bill, but, you know, Florida s got to do something about their car insurance,” Rep. Matt Willhite, D-Wellington, said in backing the legislation. “Twenty-five percent of the population in Florida doesn t even have car insurance.”
Florida Legislature Passes Major Changes to Auto, Property Insurance Markets
The actions follow weeks of back-and-forth debate on the proposals between the House and Senate chambers.
Stakeholders say neither of the potential new laws will do enough to accomplish lawmakers’ goals of reducing rates or weeding out fraud in their respective insurance industries. Both bills are now headed to Governor Ron DeSantis, who will have to sign them before they can become law.
The bill attempts to address some of the issues plaguing the state’s homeowners insurance market in which insurers lost more than $1.5 billion in last year. It passed Friday in the Senate by a vote of 35 to 5 and 75 to 41 in the House.
05:00 AM EST Share “If we can’t get meaningful reform, we’re better off doing nothing,” says Sen. Jim Boyd.
This is it. This week is the moment we find out whether Florida lawmakers have the courage to take on Florida’s trial Bar and save Florida homeowners from unabated skyrocketing property insurance rates.
As this was going to press, Senate and House members in Tallahassee were negotiating the final terms of a bill intended to keep property insurance rates from killing homeownership for the middle class; save Florida’s property insurance industry from collapse; and save the state’s economy from a contraction that would put thousands of Floridians out of work.