Category: Tallahassee
Bad news for Florida policy holders
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Senate has passed a hurricane insurance bill that would raise rates for more than 1 million customers of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
The Senate passed the bill (HB 1495) 34-2 Tuesday with Sens. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, and Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, casting no votes.
The amended measure now returns to the House, which passed its version last week.
The goal of the legislation is to reduce the state's $20 billion exposure on the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund while shoring up Citizens with actuarially sound policies.
Without the legislation, Citizens' policyholders could see premiums increase more than 40 percent on Jan. 1. Instead, they would pay the increase in smaller increments.