Dear Friend,
Property insurance reform is a priority issue for me, and our community. With that said, I wanted to make sure I shared with you a quick update from legislative session on what bills are moving — and not moving.
Many insurance bills moved forward last week. Most of them were pretty good, but they just nibble around the edges of our state’s property insurance crisis versus provide universal fixes.
For instance, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 1104 and the House Insurance & Banking Committee passed House Bill 1149. These bills would help homeowners whose homes are damaged during a hurricane, by preventing insurance companies from canceling their policies before they have time to make repairs.
The same House committee also passed House Bill 893, which may allow state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to write wind-only insurance policies in different parts of the state.
And the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed Senate Bill 1366, which would make condo associations eligible for hurricane-mitigation grants through the state’s My Safe Florida Home Program.
Unfortunately, none of this bills would do anything to make insurance more affordable for all Floridians. That’s why the most important development last week came when the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee held a workshop on House Bill 1213 – a bipartisan bill that would create a full public option for windstorm insurance open to all Floridians.
This is an idea I really like – and it’s one that would absolutely bring down the cost of insurance, while also making sure those policies are reliable. It’s a very big idea, though, and it was always a long shot that it would pass this year. The fact that the Florida House is even talking about it is a great sign for the future, though.
See a full breakdown of property insurance bills filed this session here. We’ll continue to keep you updated on Florida’s 2024 Legislative Session and encourage you to contact your State Representative and State Senator and ask them to prioritize fixing Florida’s broken unemployment system by clicking on this link.
Onward,
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani