Upcoming Special Session to Address Florida’s Chaotic Property Insurance Market

Florida lawmakers are planning a special session in December to hopefully provide relief for homeowners.

Source: Tampa Bay News 10 | Published on December 2, 2022

Miami-Dade County leads in property insurance litigation

Property insurance for Floridians has skyrocketed, and Hurricanes Ian and Nicole have exacerbated the situation, so Florida lawmakers are planning a special session in December to hopefully provide relief for homeowners.

A memorandum issued in November stated that a special session could be held the week of December 12-16.

The already chaotic Florida property insurance market exploded, leaving many homeowners scrambling for protection after more than a dozen companies stopped writing new policies in the state.

Hurricane Ian did not help matters.

In an October interview, Mark Friedlander of the Insurance Information Institute stated, “We estimate Hurricane Ian will be the second largest US catastrophe on record.” “We anticipate an insured loss in excess of $60 billion.”

Senator Jeff Brandes (R-FL) has previously stated that he would like to see the governor form a task force to develop concrete ideas to help stabilize the market.

“The task force must be formed within the next two to three weeks,” he said. “I believe they should be given a month to complete everything, and then I would expect them to call a special session and finish before January.”

According to Friedlander, your property insurance rates are likely to rise, despite lawmakers’ plans to take action to try to stabilize the market.

“We don’t see anything that will stabilize Florida’s insurance market in the short term,” he said. “Realistically, the cycle is 12 to 18 months before we see significant market impacts.”

According to Friedlander, there is no quick fix. The main issues that legislators will need to address are roof claim fraud and the state’s excessive litigation.

“There is nothing the legislature could do right now that would be an immediate fix,” he said, “but we do need to take first steps to begin the road to stability.”