Citizens Insurance Reform Bill Pushed to Session's Final Week

The Senate has again delayed efforts to reform Citizens Property Insurance, pushing any debate on Gov. Rick Scotts call for reform and reduction of the state-backed provider to the final week of the regular session.

Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, the sponsor of SB 578, said he expects the bill will come up Monday, with a number of amendmemts.

My goal is to pass a policy decision that will serve to shrink Citizens, to reduce the number of policies in Citizens, so that we can reduce the taxes to Floridians that would be associated with a catastrophic storm, Richter said Friday after the Senate floor session.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, agreed that any debate will need plenty of time to discuss the issues, as only two hours of time was scheduled Friday.

Its going to be a long debate, Fasano said. Youre going to have a lot of debates about the amendments, Im sure its going to come up next week.

Fasano has worked to block the bill over his objections to how third parties, known as surplus-line carriers, would be allowed to take over policies from the bloated state-backed Citizens.

Surplus-line carriers are not regulated by the Office of Insurance Regulation and can differ greatly from the states admitted insurers, a point opponents of the bill have pushed repeatedly.

Fasano said customers need assurances that the companies that pick up many of Citizens 1.5 million customers are regulated, to avoid steep rate increases and little consumer protection.