Revamped Insurance Package Passed by Florida House
Private property insurers will soon be more tightly regulated under a voluminous measure passed in the Florida House.
The measure passed shortly before midnight on April 30.
The 120-page bill provides incentives to attract new companies to enter the state’s lucrative, albeit risky, marketplace and reduce the state’s liability at the same time.
The proposal still needs to go back to the Senate. But the House version would also prevent for another year, companies from raising rates while awaiting state approval for the increase.
In addition, the bill (SB 2860) extends a rate freeze for hundreds of thousands of Citizens Insurance policy holders for another year.
The measure passed 117-0 after more than two hours of debate.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said he is pleased that the House version maintained “significant consumer safeguards” specified in Sen. Jeff Atwater’s version of SB 2860.
“Specifically, stopping insurance companies from bypassing the Office (of Insurance Regulation) and increasing rates through the use-and-file or arbitration processes are very important provisions of this bill,” McCarty said.