On the final day of a special session in Florida’s capital, House lawmakers passed a bill to deal with rising home insurance costs.“Today is a big day in that we provided relief for Floridians who so desperately need it,” Republican Rep. Paul Renner in Flagler County said. Republican lawmakers ended the second home insurance special session of the year on a high note. They cheered as the final votes were counted to pass a bill that would overhaul property insurance. But their Democratic colleagues were less enthusiastic. “Florida House Republicans and Senators just passed a bill that provides a $1 billion bailout to insurance companies and no relief for Florida homeowners,” Democratic Rep. Fentrice Driskell in Hillsborough County said. That bill gets rid of your ability to assign your benefits to a third party like a contractor. It also speeds up the claims filing process, cuts down on the number of policyholders that Citizens insures and gets rid of one-way attorney fees. And it sets up the option for insurance companies to tap into a billion dollars from the state’s general fund to get their insurance coverage. “I think the way we’ve structured it, it should be able to give everybody an opportunity one way or another to move forward with their insurance policies,” Rep. Paula Stark, R-Osceola County, said. If you’re wondering when you’ll see some relief on your home insurance premiums, Volusia County Republican Rep. Tom Leek says it will take some time. “We didn’t get into this problem overnight. Our property insurance market has been sick for a long time and what we did today — there’s no magic pill to fix it but what we did today is took that medicine,” Leek said. “We are fighting for you and doing everything we can with this package but also on the ground holding insurance companies accountable one by one,” Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orange County, said. The House also passed two bills that would provide property tax relief and credits for drivers who use toll roads at least 35 times a month. All three bills from this special session are headed to the governor’s office for his signature. WESH reached out for comment but has yet to hear back.
On the final day of a special session in Florida’s capital, House lawmakers passed a bill to deal with rising home insurance costs.
“Today is a big day in that we provided relief for Floridians who so desperately need it,” Republican Rep. Paul Renner in Flagler County said.
Republican lawmakers ended the second home insurance special session of the year on a high note.
They cheered as the final votes were counted to pass a bill that would overhaul property insurance. But their Democratic colleagues were less enthusiastic.
“Florida House Republicans and Senators just passed a bill that provides a $1 billion bailout to insurance companies and no relief for Florida homeowners,” Democratic Rep. Fentrice Driskell in Hillsborough County said.
That bill gets rid of your ability to assign your benefits to a third party like a contractor. It also speeds up the claims filing process, cuts down on the number of policyholders that Citizens insures and gets rid of one-way attorney fees.
And it sets up the option for insurance companies to tap into a billion dollars from the state’s general fund to get their insurance coverage.
“I think the way we’ve structured it, it should be able to give everybody an opportunity one way or another to move forward with their insurance policies,” Rep. Paula Stark, R-Osceola County, said.
If you’re wondering when you’ll see some relief on your home insurance premiums, Volusia County Republican Rep. Tom Leek says it will take some time.
“We didn’t get into this problem overnight. Our property insurance market has been sick for a long time and what we did today — there’s no magic pill to fix it but what we did today is took that medicine,” Leek said.
“We are fighting for you and doing everything we can with this package but also on the ground holding insurance companies accountable one by one,” Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orange County, said.
The House also passed two bills that would provide property tax relief and credits for drivers who use toll roads at least 35 times a month.
All three bills from this special session are headed to the governor’s office for his signature.
WESH reached out for comment but has yet to hear back.
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.