Gallagher praises legislators’ action on rate relief

When the Flordia House and Senate appropriation committees set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to provide insurance rate relief for the state’s homeowners, both the consumer and the insurance industry scored a victory, according to Tom Gallagher, Florida CFO.

“Returning surplus revenue to Florida’s families is sound fiscal policy and common-sense tax relief, and I commend our state legislators for taking this first step,” Gallagher said. “There is still much work to be done, and I’m going to do my part to ensure additional reforms are also approved.”

Since 2004, Gallagher has called on the Legislature to use surplus tax revenues to offset Citizens Property Insurance Corporation assessments, rather than taxing Floridians twice for the hurricane damages.

The Florida General Revenue Estimating Conference announ-ced that Florida will now receive $960 million in unanticipated revenue.

Following revenue projections, House leaders recommended that $920 million be set aside to offset the burden of Citizens’ assessments on Florid-ians, with an additional $500 million earmarked for grants and no-interest loans to help Floridians strengthen their homes against hurricanes.

Senate leaders are proposing $750 million be dedicated to offset insurance assessments, with another $50 million allocated for mitigation.

“Citizens was not designed to handle 800,000 policies,” Gallagher said. “Helping Floridians strengthen their homes against catastrophes, moving people out of Citizens or keeping them from ending up in the insurer of last resort are all wise investments for our future.”

House leaders are also recommending that the Florida Comprehensive Hurricane Dam-age Mitigation Program be administered by the Florida Department of Financial Services.

Topics Florida A.J. Gallagher