Senate Sends Citizens Bill, With Altman Amendment, Back to House

The Senate approved, in a 26-8 vote Tuesday, a sweeping reform of Citizens Property Insurance designed to reduce the number of policies the state-owned insurer covers, despite a late amendment many senators hope the House will remove.

The House has already approved its version of the bill, which does not include an amendment that would require third party insurers, known as surplus-line carriers, to get each policyholder to sign a letter of understanding acknowledging they are being moved to a new carrier.

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On Monday, Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, sponsor of CS/HB 245, called the amendment introduced by Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, overkill, saying the requirement will keep new insurance companies from wanting to come to Florida.

With 1.47 million policyholders at the start of the year, the goal for Citizens is to shave 7 percent of its risk, including $1 billion in coverage from properties that overlook the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, reducing the number of overall policies to 800,000.