Florida’s Special Legislative Session on Property Insurance starts on Monday. Florida’s legislators, except for its leaders and those in the Governor’s office do not know what is being proposed.
This is backroom politics at its best—maybe at its worst. Who knows? I was hoping to report something to our readers. While I have literally spent four hours working and speaking with our firm’s lobbyists and others, I do not think more than a handful know what is proposed, and maybe the handful are trying to figure it out. Sorry I cannot report more.
An editorial in the Sun-Sentinel, Another Insurance Special Session. What now?, noted:
As of 4 p.m. Friday, no bills had yet been posted on the Florida Legislature’s website for the special session on property insurance. The scheduled week-long session starts Monday.
This is not good government. Floridians should not expect dramatic relief from whatever legislators pass. We all know better because we’ve seen this movie before.
Seven months ago, legislators met in special session to update the insurance legislation they had passed two years ago. Back in May, everyone agreed that even in a best case scenario, homeowner premiums would not drop. But if hurricane season wasn’t too bad, perhaps they wouldn’t go up too much in 2023.
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Given the complexity of insurance, a functioning Legislature would start by getting the most reliable information possible about the problem. That would start with extensive committee hearings well before the regular session and continue with as much debate as possible.
I hope to have more later tonight or in the morning.
