TALLAHASSEE — Will the second special legislative session of 2022 help to stabilize Florida’s beleaguered property-insurance system?
Gov. Ron DeSantis thinks so – but the governor expressed confidence at a time when companies are poised to drop tens of thousands of policies in the state.
DeSantis called for the special session, slated to start next week, in an effort to address property-insurance problems that have led to homeowners losing policies and being hit with significant rate hikes.
“The good news is, on property insurance, I think we’re going to get really, really significant reforms,” DeSantis said Monday during an appearance in Sanford.
Speaking to reporters throughout the week, DeSantis indicated proposed changes could be aimed at curbing litigation over insurance claims. Insurers have long blamed lawsuits for financial losses, which DeSantis said are causing premiums to “escalate,” adding that it is “very important” to address the issue.
Three days before the governor’s Sanford stop, the state’s property-insurance market took a major blow. The state Office of Insurance Regulation signed off on an agreement that will lead to three companies that are part of the same holding company dropping some 68,000 policies.
FedNat Insurance Co., Maison Insurance Co. and Monarch National Insurance Co. will have to give 45 days’ notice to policyholders.
The agreement, known as a consent order, said the early cancellation of policies is an “extraordinary statutory remedy reserved to address insurers which are or may be in hazardous financial condition without the cancellation of some or all of its policies.”
It’s uncertain where the 68,200 canceled policyholders will find coverage. But as other insurers have dropped policies, the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. had grown to 851,000 policies as of the end of April – up from 589,000 policies a year earlier.
Three other Florida property insurers – Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp., Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and St. Johns Insurance Co. – have been declared insolvent and gone into receivership since February.
The special session on property insurance comes after lawmakers convened for a special legislative session in April to deal with the state’s once-a-decade redistricting process.
The redistricting session – special session “C” – was shaken up by a set of proposals aimed at cracking down on Walt Disney Co.
Insiders are chattering about the possibility that a number of controversial issues could be added to 2022 special session “D” set to start Monday.
But as of Friday afternoon, no official announcement had surfaced about the expansion of the session to include legislation outside of the insurance issue.
To and fro
On again, off again.
That’s been the story of a circuit judge’s decision that blocked a congressional redistricting plan pushed through the Legislature by DeSantis.
The back-and-forth is part of an underlying lawsuit by voting-rights groups and other plaintiffs who have challenged the congressional map’s constitutionality.
The state last week appealed a temporary injunction issued May 12 by Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith, which stalled the reapportionment plan passed during the April special session. The appeal triggered an automatic stay of the injunction as attorneys for former Secretary of State Laurel Lee filed a notice of taking the case to the 1st District Court of Appeal.
Continuing the herky-jerky legal maneuvers, Smith on Monday ordered that the ruling remain in effect while the state pursues an appeal.
With elections supervisors preparing for the Aug. 23 primary elections, Smith pointed to the possibility that an appeal would not be resolved quickly.
“It’s crunch time now, and this involves fundamental constitutional rights,” Smith said Monday.
The Tallahassee-based appeals court on Friday reinstated the stay, again putting the redistricting plan in effect. In reinstating the stay, the appeals court signaled that it did not agree with the temporary injunction.
“Based on a preliminary review, the court has determined there is a high likelihood that the temporary injunction is unlawful, because by awarding a preliminary remedy to the appellees (the plaintiffs) on their claim, the order ‘frustrated the status quo, rather than preserved it,’” the appeals court said, quoting a legal precedent.
The appellate court’s action Friday substantially increases the chances that the DeSantis-backed redistricting plan will be in effect for this year’s elections. The plaintiffs, however, have asked that the underlying legal battle about the temporary injunction be put on a fast track to the Florida Supreme Court.
A day to celebrate
May 20 marks the day that the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in Florida, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln officially declared an end to slavery. The delay after Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation made Florida one of the last states to acknowledge that slavery was a thing of the past.
As he has done in prior years, DeSantis issued a proclamation Friday recognizing May 20 as Florida’s Emancipation Day.
“Whereas, Emancipation Day is a time to honor the contributions African Americans made, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and the freedoms (we) have today in Florida and across our great nation,” part of DeSantis’ proclamation said.
In Tallahassee, the event was celebrated at the downtown Knott House Museum, which Union Brigadier General Edward M. McCook used as his headquarters when he arrived in Florida to declare the Emancipation Proclamation was in effect.
Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a Republican former legislator who was appointed to the post by DeSantis last week, made his first public appearance as the state’s top election official during the event.
STORY OF THE WEEK: An appeals court Friday reinstated a stay against a circuit judge’s decision that blocked a congressional redistricting plan pushed through the Legislature by Gov. Ron DeSantis, increasing the likelihood that the map could be in place for the 2022 elections.
Young
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The rejections come in the midst of a multi-pronged effort to undermine faith in public schooling, and invoke terms that have become buzzwords for justifying censorship, but which remain vague and ill-defined.” – Jeremy Young, senior manager of free-speech organization PEN America’s Free Expression and Education program, on Florida’s rejection of math textbooks citing the inclusion of critical race theory.
Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.