Dear Friend,
Florida is in a property insurance crisis right now. Average homeowners insurance premiums in have more than doubled under Gov. Ron DeSantis to more than $6,000 a year – nearly triple the national average. More than 1-in-10 homeowners in Florida are going without any coverage at all – double the national average.
This doesn’t just hurt homeowners, either. Rising property insurance costs are one of the main reasons rents have skyrocketed in Florida, too, as landlords try to pass those price increases onto their tenants. It’s the single biggest reason our state is becoming too expensive for working-class families.
But I want you to know that we are working hard to find solutions and bring relief to Floridians.
When Tallahassee Republicans called a special session earlier this month to try and prop up DeSantis’ flailing presidential campaign, I filed a pair of insurance-related bills meant to help bring down costs and ensure more consumer protections.
One of those bills (House Bill 27C) would have created a new emergency grant program to help people pay their insurance bills. The other (House Bill 29C) would have given regulators more power to stop insurance companies from using accounting gimmicks to siphon money out of Florida – instead of using that money to pay claims. I also filed a third bill (House Bill 19C) that would have ensured renters cannot be evicted during a hurricane watch or an actual hurricane.
Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the Florida Legislature refused to hear any of this bills during the special session.
But we’re not done fighting. Not by a long shot.
The 2024 Regular Session begins Jan. 9, and property insurance is going to be one of our primary focuses. I’ll continue advocating for the ideas I pitched during the special session. But we’re developing more policy proposals, too.
For instance, we learned recently that the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. – which is being forced by Republican lawmakers and insurance industry lobbyists to kick more Floridians out and onto higher-priced private policies – is using unlicensed inspectors to help with that purge. We’re going to push to end that abuse.
And even bigger ideas are in the works, too. There is growing bipartisan interest in creating a true public option for Floridians – an alternative to profit-motivated private corporations whose entire business model is to bring in as much money as possible in premiums and pay out as little money as possible in claims.
There are a few ways something like this could work. (Check out this story for one potential example.). And there are obviously a lot of details still to be worked out.
But one thing is clear: We need to start thinking bigger and bolder when it comes to solving this crisis – and making sure all Floridians can afford to live in Florida.
If you’re facing challenges with your property insurance please let us know. Not only may we be able to help, but your story can help push my colleagues across the aisle to take action, too. You can contact me at anna@annaforflorida.com.
Onward,
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani