November 7, 2017
The Florida Chamber of Commerce brought together regulators, lawmakers, insurance industry executives and other stakeholders last week for the chamber’s annual insurance summit. Through several panel discussions on pressing and emerging issues facing the state’s insurance market, the summit touched …
October 14, 2017
Every few years, after a major hurricane strike or other disaster, there are renewed calls for Congress to establish a national catastrophe fund to provide a safety net for property insurers and cheaper coverage for homeowners. A recent Tampa Bay …
February 27, 2017
In recent years, Congress repeatedly has considered legislation that would have adversely and profoundly impacted disaster-prone states like Florida. Luckily, we were spared passage, over and over again. Unfortunately, a tax “reform” package supported by House Republicans and likely to …
August 20, 2015
In his ongoing efforts to foster a competitive private flood insurance market in Florida, state Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, recently requested help from the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation to obtain data from the federal government that justify the …
January 21, 2015
Testifying this week before the Florida House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee, Office of Insurance Regulation Deputy Chief of Staff Monte Stevens echoed much of what has been reported in recent months about Florida’s property insurance market: it has largely stabilized …
October 8, 2014
Its status as a low-lying peninsula jutting 500 miles into the warmest, most hurricane-active waters in the world makes Florida one of the riskiest places to live. So it comes as no surprise that the cost to insure properties in …
August 8, 2014
A recent article by the Palm Beach Post blasting Citizens Property Insurance Corp. executives for traveling overseas casts a negative image onto the state-owned and operated insurer. However, what the article fails to establish is that such travels are a …
October 3, 2013
Florida state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, has filed Senate Bill 228 to maintain the current statutory requirement that the state-run Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, better known as the Cat Fund, sell $17 billion in coverage to the state’s property insurers. …
August 8, 2013
Yesterday, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater penned a letter to Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty inquiring why property insurance rates continue to rise even as the cost of reinsurance falls. Atwater accurately refers to an average drop of about 15 …
June 19, 2013
Florida’s state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. announced earlier this week that Chief Financial Officer Sharron Binnun has resigned to take a job in the private sector. Her departure from Citizens is unfortunate, but ultimately unsurprising (more on that later). During …