Ready by October

FAIA Studying Windstorm ‘Vehicle’

The Florida Association of Insurance Agents has announced it will study “another avenue” for covering hurricane wind damage in Florida and would like to establish its own “vehicle” to insure windstorm risk, according to a statement by Jeff Grady, FAIA president and CEO.

“With insurers cutting their Florida exposure and state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. levying a 6.8 percent assessment on home insurance policies, it’s time that we look for solutions that consider the needs of both insurers and consumers,” Grady said.

FAIA will sponsor the study, led by Jay Newman, a former insurance commissioner in Virginia and the former executive director for Citizens who is now an adjunct professor at Florida State University.

The study will look at whether Florida can create a vehicle to insure its windstorm risk that would be similar to the National Flood Insurance Program, the federally backed program that covers flood damage.

Those who buy flood insurance buy that coverage from an insurance agent or from an insurer, and they file damage claims through their insurer. But the actual policy comes from the flood insurance program.

FAIA plans to complete its study in October, and plans to submit a copy to a state task force charged with crafting fixes to the hurricane insurance market, Scott Johnson, executive vice president, said.

The Task Force on Long-Term Solutions for Florida’s Hurricane Insurance Market met for the first time in Tallahassee for an organizational session.

The Legislature created the task force as part of its legislation passed in May to make changes to Florida’s insurance industry.

Gov. Jeb Bush, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, Senate President Tom Lee and House Speaker Allan Bense each named three people to the task force.

The group is required to deliver a report and recommendations to state leaders by April 1.