Florida to Conduct Public Hearing on Citizens’ Proposed Rate Changes

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that it will conduct a public hearing later this month to discuss Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s proposed 2016 rate changes for its business in the multi-peril and wind only Coastal Account (CA), Commercial Lines Account (CLA) and the Personal Lines Account (PLA).

These accounts include, but are not limited to: commercial property, homeowners, mobile home and the dwelling/fire lines of business. Additional filings on behalf of Citizens will be forthcoming and evidence regarding such filings may be received at the hearing, the announcement said.

The public hearing will be held on Aug. 25 at the Senate Office Building, at the Florida State Capitol located in Tallahassee, Florida. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.

Several top officials from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, including Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, General Counsel Anoush Brangaccio, Deputy Commissioner David Altmaier and Director Sandra Starnes, are scheduled to attend the hearing.

From Citizens, President and CEO Barry Gilway, Chief Risk Officer John Rollins, Chief Actuary Brian Donovan, Forecasting & Research Director Paul Kutter, Corporate Analytics Director March Fisher, and Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Montero are scheduled to attend the hearing and make a presentation on the proposed changes.

Citizens has said its proposed rate package lowers rates for nearly half of Citizens’ personal lines policyholders while responding to increased water loss claims and continued inadequate rates for its remaining policyholders along the coast.

Listed in the chart below are the proposed rate changes as filed by Citizens. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation is required, per statute, to render a decision on these filings within two weeks of the hearing.

The proposed Citizens rate filings listed can be accessed via the I-File Forms & Rates Filing Search system (at https://apps8.fldfs.com/IFileExternalSearch ) by using the search criteria of file log numbers or by entering “Citizens” as the “company name,” and scrolling down to the bottom of the results page for the most recent filing information. Furthermore, rate filing summaries for each of the filings listed are at: www.floir.com/Sections/PandC/ProductReview/CitizensPublicRateHearing2015.aspx.

There are no proposed rate changes for sinkhole coverage and the requested rate increases in the chart are not uniform. The effective date of the proposed rate change for all three accounts (Coastal, Commercial Lines and Personal Lines) is Feb. 1, 2016, for new and renewal business.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said the general public is welcome to submit comments about Citizens proposed rate filings by sending an email to: ratehearings@floir.com. The record will remain open for public comment until Sept. 1. For interested parties who plan to attend the hearing and provide either written and/or oral comments/testimony, a completed speaker sign-in sheet is required.

The Florida Channel, a government-access television network, will stream the hearing live via its website: www.thefloridachannel.org. A videotaped recording of the hearing will be available on the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s website at a later date.

Source: The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation