“From Justice As A Foundation All Rights Flow”

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann 
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. 

Published May 2, 2007

Tuesday, May 1, 2007, will go down as a great day for proponents of the property insurance reform bill S 2498 -- a bill trying to make CITIZENS competitive in order to lower outrageous property insurance premiums that are pricing many families out of their homes.

The majority of Florida's Senators listened to the voices of desperate homeowners and condo-owners and amended the bill accordingly. 

This is the ENGROSSED VERSION CS 2498 E1! CLICK ON LINK TO READ!

Two attempts by Senator Carey Baker (Distr.20-R) to remove the important provision that prevents insurers from creating new pup companies after January 1, 2008 and that requests for rate increases of such companies have to include profit information of the parent company, failed thanks to the wide majority of our Senators!

Don't forget, Senator Baker was as well the sponsor of the infamous bill S 2366, a bill that would have created a Task Force stacked with insurance representatives to discuss how to dissolve Citizens and how to make sure that the insurance industry earns higher profits! At taxpayers' expense of $250,000 --and higher premiums to follow!

These are the main issues of the engrossed bill:

• Allows a homeowner to obtain property insurance in Citizens even if the homeowner has an offer from the private market if the private market premium is 15% more than the Citizens’ premium.  

• Extends rate freeze for Citizens until minimum January 1, 2009.

• Starting January 1, 2008, prohibits the formation of new “pup companies” for the transaction of residential property insurance.

• Requires the rate filings of “pup companies” to include information about the profits of the parent insurer that is located out of state.

• Gives the OIR authority to disapprove a pup company's rate filing based on the profits of the parent company (if the parent insurer returned profits of more than 15% to investors, the OIR can disapprove the pup company's rate filing). 

• Creates pilot program to offer optional sinkhole coverage.

• Creates more policy-holder-friendly provisions regarding speedy claim settlement and dishonest practices!