Insurance reform?
A special session of the Florida Legislature begins on Monday, December 12. I suspect most Floridians, including many of our St. Johns County residents, won’t be paying a lot of attention.
They should. We all should.
The stated intent of this legislative session is to:
- Improve the property insurance marketplace for homeowners
- Address recovering from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole
- Fund a statewide toll relief fund to make it more affordable for Floridians to get to and from work
Improving the Property Insurance Marketplace for Homeowners is being addressed on the Senate side by Senate Bill 2A, filed by Senator Boyd (Hillsborough and Manatee Counties), and has been referred to the committees on Banking and Insurance and Fiscal Policy. A similar House Bill, H1A, has been filed by Representatives Leek and Rommel (Part of Volusia County, Part of Collier County)
What does it do for the average Floridian? The goal is shore up the state-run Citizens Property Insurance and to increase access to reinsurance with the hope this will stabilize the insurance marketplace. In 2021, 6.91% of total nationwide insurance claims were in Florida however, 76% of the nationwide homeowners’ lawsuits were opened in Florida. Senate Bill 2A will attempt to put controls in place to reduce frivolous lawsuits that raise costs and increase insurer transparency for consumers.
The bill appears to help insurers by eliminating the right to attorney fees in residential and commercial property insurance lawsuits. How does this help? By removing the incentive for law firms to file frivolous suits. Lobbyists for law firms are said to be pushing back on this change as they believe it is needed for them to file cases against insurers if a claim isn’t paid in full.
The bill will also eliminate Assignment of Benefits. This is the process where a homeowner allows a contractor to file the claim on their behalf. Does that lead to fraudulent or inflated claims? It’s long been viewed that it does often lead to unnecessary work and then claims against the homeowner’s insurance.
The bill will also reduce the time to file a claim from 2 years to 1 year and insurers will be required respond to a claim in 7 days rather than 14 days and check the damages within 30 days as opposed to 45 days.
Will this help homeowners? Probably not right away. If passed, it would be a couple of years before the benefits would trickle down to homeowners.
If you are in favor of these reforms, be sure to let our St. Johns County Legislators know.
Contact information for St. Johns County Legislators:
- Representative Cyndi Stevenson – cyndi.stevenson@myfloridahouse.gov
- Representative Paul Renner – paul.renner@myfloridahouse.gov
- Senator Travis Hutson – hutson.travis.web@flsenate.gov
Beth Tate 