Florida Insurance rate relief

Lawmakers wrangle more Citizens rate relief

TALLAHASSEE – Jan. 22, 2007 – Lawmakers turned their attention to Citizens Property Insurance Corp. on Sunday, wringing some additional rate relief for customers in the state pool after reaching a broader agreement over the weekend to roll back private homeowners’ insurance rates.
A House-Senate compromise bill goes to the full Legislature today, the last day of the special session tackling runaway rates. It then goes to Gov. Charlie Crist, who on Sunday expressed optimism but didn’t tip his hand as to whether he intended to sign or veto the bill.

A breakthrough in negotiations late Saturday brought a deal indicating that Floridians can expect to pay roughly 25 percent less on their insurance bills beginning this summer, although the amount could vary widely depending on location and which company provides the coverage. A cross-section of sample companies that the state Office of Insurance Regulation tested with provisions of the new legislation reported that rates would fall anywhere from single digits to more than 30 percent.

When it appeared Sunday that Citizens’ customers wouldn’t do as well, lawmakers went back at the legislation and tweaked the bill to provide a rollback of about 20 percent for those in the state pool.
“We’ve delivered very, very substantial rate relief – higher rate relief than any of us thought possible a month ago,” said state Sen. Steven Geller, D-Hallandale Beach, an architect of the Senate bill.Late-night and weekend arm-twisting settled a key provision of the bill – expanding the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to provide more and cheaper state-backed reinsurance. The cost of reinsurance in the private markets had been identified as a key driver in Florida’s soaring rates.Lawmakers were clearly pleased with the outcome of the special session.