Property insurance bill passes through Florida Senate subcommittee
Mar 14, 2011
The following was posted to the Naples Daily News Capitol Watch blog on March 11, 2011:
A Senate bill that would revamp Florida’s property insurance laws in an effort to attract more competition to the state passed unanimously through the budget subcommittee on general government appropriations this morning.
However, some of the debate on the bill was stifled because the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, was unable to attend. Richter traveled back to Naples this week to attend the funeral of a close friend.
Among its provisions, the bill would increase the minimum surplus requirements – the reserves an insurer has available to pay claims – for residential property insurers from $4 million to $15 million, shrink the window during which claims can be filed from five years to three, redefine what constitutes a sinkhole loss, and remove requirements that insurers offer sinkhole coverage.
The number of sinkhole loss claims has nearly tripled over the last five years, jumping from 2,360 in 2006 to 6,694 in 2010.
Former Go. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar bill last year, saying it was not consumer-friendly enough.
Find this article at: http://blogs.naplesnews.com/capitolwatch/2011/03/property-insurance-bill-passes-through-subcommittee.html