“From Justice As A Foundation All Rights Flow”
An
Opinion By Jan Bergemann 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:
In the name of many Florida property owners I would like to thank the Senators, who helped to make this possible! Not to forget Governor Charlie Crist, who went out of his way to get us this far! Now, let's keep our fingers crossed that the final vote on the Senate floor will go as well as today's Second Reading of the bill -- and then off to the House, where H 1267 (Representative Julio Robaina) is waiting for the finishing touches and a favorable vote by the House members! The final votes on House and Senate floor will show us voters who is for us -- and who is in the pockets of the insurance industry! |