Florida lawmaker promises new bill would drop insurance rates like a rock

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It’s a legislative proposal that promises property insurance premiums will drop like a rock.

House Bill 1213 would drastically alter the mission of Citizens Property Insurance from the state’s insurer of last resort to the first option for windstorm coverage.

State Rep. Spencer Roach, a Republican from Lee County, is a survivor of Hurricane Ian. He says Florida’s insurance companies failed him, and all of his neighbors, so he teamed up with a Democrat to draft a bill that would make Citizens the go-to provider of windstorm coverage.

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Four days after Ian, Rep. Roach was documenting the damage to his home in Fort Myers.

“This is the main room here…you can still see water on the deck,” he said on cell phone video.

The storm brought in at least 18 inches of water.

“You got the doors that are starting to warp out from the water,” he said.

The recovery took months.

Roach says his insurance company, UPC, low-balled him, then they went out of business.

“This was perhaps one of the most challenging years of my adult life,” he said.

His neighbors too.

So, Roach, a Republican, and State Rep. Hillary Cassel, a Democrat, started to brainstorm. How do you reduce rates and make sure claims are paid, in full?

“I have what I think, if I could be so bold, as the solution to this crisis,” said Roach.

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This week, the duo filed HB 1213, which would totally re-purpose Citizens.

Right now, if you can’t get coverage on the private market, you go to state-owned Citizens, which protects homes from windstorms, fire, theft and so on.

If this bill becomes law, that would change.

First, Citizens would only provide windstorm coverage. Next, no longer the insurer of last resort, Citizens would be an option for all of us providing cheap rates for everybody.

“Think of this as the National Flood Insurance Program but instead of the federal level, it’s at the state level, and it’s covering wind damage only instead of flood,” said Roach. “Florida at some point is going to embrace the idea of universal wind coverage.”

Insurance industry insiders tell 8 On Your Side it’s a horrible idea that could bankrupt the state.

Citizens has not responded to our request for comment but in recent years they’ve been trying to shrink, not grow.

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“You’re modeling it after the NFIP, but the NFIP has a lot of debt, so don’t you think that’s going to be a problem here to?” asked 8 On Your Side’s Mahsa Saeidi.

“I don’t think so,” said Roach. “This plan which I’m talking about would be tied to the sort of fiscal solvency of the state of Florida, which is very good.”

“We do have stretches of time, sometimes a decade, without a major storm, and during that time that fund would continue to grow, invest and make more money.”

The big unknown: Who would do a better job at collecting premiums and staying solvent when it’s time to pay claims?

Roach claims all the insurers do is get rich, then bail.

Roach says his bill is not perfect but it’s time to explore this idea.

So far, he hasn’t been able to find a senator to sponsor a version of this bill in that chamber.

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