The next speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, set to take charge in 2025, said he hopes to see more legislation that could further address spiraling property insurance costs.

“Do I believe we are done with property insurance? No. Not a chance,” State Rep. Danny Perez, R-Miami, told reporters at the Capitol this week, according to WPTV news.

Perez was elected to the speaker position by House members who met briefly in Tallahassee this week. He will take over after current Speaker Paul Renner’s two-year term concludes.

Perez, a lawyer, also said he hopes for more bi-partisanship, despite Republicans’ supermajority in the chamber, and for legislative sessions in which “every decision hasn’t been worked out in advance.”

The 2023 regular session of the Legislature and two previous special sessions were marked by insurance reform and tort reform bills that were crafted by the governors’ office and legislative leaders, and which sailed to approval in just days – with very few amendments.

Insurance industry leaders have credited those session with passing major changes, including elimination of one-way attorney fees and assignment-of-benefit agreements in insurance claims, all of which are expected to curtail litigation costs.

Perez also urged legislative committees to have more dialog about bills and to spend less time on bills that “don’t really matter,” the TV station reported.

The Florida Legislature’s 2024 regular session begins Jan. 9.

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Florida
Legislation
Property