Florida property issues teed up

TALLAHASSEE – After Florida lawmakers in December passed major changes to try to shore up the property insurance industry, a Senate committee next week will receive presentations about the insurance market.

On October 10th, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee is scheduled to receive presentations from Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. President and CEO Tim Cerio.

The changes passed during a December special session included trying to help shield property insurers from costly lawsuits and trying to shift policies from Citizens into the private market.

Citizens, which was created as the state’s insurer of last resort, has seen massive growth during the past three years as private carriers have dropped customers and raised rates. As of Friday, it had slightly more than 1.4 million policies, making it the largest insurer in the state.