Florida Senate Budget Committee approved a bill this week that proposes wide ranging reforms to Florida’s property insurance market. Senate Bill 408 is part of larger effort to rein in insurance cost drivers and generally to stabilize Florida insurance markets. The bill has been amended a number of times and might be amended further.
In its current form, the bill addresses a number of non-catastrophic cost drivers, including sinkhole claims and issues related to public adjusters. The bill would require windstorm and hurricane claims to be brought within three, instead of five years, and sinkhole loss claims to be brought within two years. It also would remove the requirement for insurers to offer sinkhole coverage and permit them to make certain restrictions on sinkhole coverage. Significantly, the bill would limit public adjusters’ compensation, address deceptive advertising by public adjusters, and raise the minimum surplus requirements for residential property insurers to $15 million.
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