Lawmakers return to Tallahassee Florida to Address Property Insurance Prices

Later this month, state lawmakers plan to return to Tallahassee for a special session to address property insurance. In addition, there is a federal effort to also examine the issue of property insurance prices in Florida.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a Democrat from St. Petersburg who is currently running for Florida governor plans to file a bill in Washington that he claims may lower rates by 10 percent. “It’s set up to reduce homeowners insurance premiums,” said Rep. Crist in a recent WFLA Channel 8 report.

Currently, Rep. Crist says that one of the issues in the Florida homeowners insurance market is the cost of reinsurance. Highly rated insurance companies are required by law to carry reinsurance for rare catastrophic events or storms that occur roughly every 130 years. Unfortunately, in recent years the cost of reinsurance has skyrocketed which impacts an insurance companies costs. 

The Fueling Affordable Insurance for The Homeowners, or FAITH act will be put into action in Washington D.C on Tuesday. The bill authorizes insurers to carry less reinsurance coverage. Overall, big companies will pay less, and in turn policyholders will too.

On the off chance that Florida experiences a massive storm in the next year, Rep. Crist claims that the U.S. Department of the Treasury would extend a loan to Florida. “It would be the lowest interest rate of money that the state would be advantaged by,” said Crist in the recent WFLA Channel 8 report. However, following the loan, Florida would have ten years would have to pay the debt back. 

Exactly how much could be saved overall by this new bill if it becomes law? According to Crist in the WSLA article, “When I was governor before, we got it to lower those rates by at least 10%. It is hoped this will do the same thing if not a little bit more.” While the governor believes it’s good to be insured against off chance events, currently it’s of more importance to stabilize the market.