Property Insurance crisis: Florida legislators to hold 'town hall' in Melbourne

Three state legislators are holding a "town hall" meeting in Melbourne Thursday to get input from local residents about rising property insurance rates and what can be done about them.

The forum will held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Melbourne City Council chambers at Melbourne City Hall, 900 E. Strawbridge Ave.

The event was organized by Florida Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, and also will be attended by Florida Senate Majority Leader Debbie Mayfield, R-Indialantic, and Florida Rep. Thad Altman, R-Indialantic.

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Fine said they will be looking for resident input in advance of a special session of the Florida Legislature, scheduled for the week of May 23, that was called to tackle the crisis in Florida's property insurance industry.

Fine said residents will be given an opportunity to address the legislators on what should be done about the insurance crisis.

He said the issues of rising property insurance premiums and canceled policies have generated more calls and emails to his office than anything else in recent months.

Fine said his goals include finding ways to stop the skyrocketing of insurance rate premiums; reduce the number of insurers leaving the state or going out of business entirely; and attract new insurers into the state.

"We need to try to come up with a way to stabilize the market," Fine said.

”As the legislature prepares to return to Tallahassee this month to tackle the crisis in property insurance, I want to give my constituents from around Brevard County the opportunity to share their perspective with me, Sen. Mayfield and Rep. Altman, as we figure out how to tackle this complex issue,” Fine said. “For me, this event will primarily be an opportunity to listen."

Among Fine's concerns is that insurers are accepting a number of claims for supposed hail damage on roofs that are resulting in increased expenses for the insurers and financial losses.

Members of the public who sign up to speak on Thursday each will be given an amount of time, based on the total number wishing to speak.

Fine emphasized that the town hall is exclusively to address the property insurance issue, and anyone wanting to discuss other issues should contact their state legislators' offices separate from this forum.

Also attending the town hall will be Melbourne Mayor Paul Alfrey, West Melbourne City Councilman John Dittmore and Brevard School Board Member Matt Susin — all of whom work or have worked in the insurance sector. Alfrey also has owned a roofing business.

Fine said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, likely will be the legislator to introduce a proposal for consideration at the special session to address the insurance cruise.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida legislators from Brevard seek input on solving insurance crisis