Florida s supposed insurer of last resort has moved to shave 7percent of its risk, including $1 billion in coverage fromproperties that overlook the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, asa means to truly regain that moniker. The Citizens Property Insurance board of governors on Wednesdaysupported a series of measures -- both in-house and throughlegislative action -- to revamp the state-backed provider, with agoal of reducing the number of overall policies from 1.5 million to800,000. One board member, during the meeting at the Peabody Hotel inOrlando, called the steps potentially significant progress. Last week, Gov. Rick Scott questioned why residents of Floridashould continue to subsidize property insurance for ritzy homesbuilt in high-risk areas. Told that Citizens Property Insurance is woefully overexposed,Scott told reporters after the Dec. 6 Cabinet meeting that theinsurance program needs to be fixed. Let s make a decision. If all of us believe that it makeseconomic sense that, if someone wants to build a home in an areathat it is difficult or impossible to get insurance, should be wesubsidizing that? Scott said then. Among the proposed changes would be shaving Citizens overall peakstorm risk from $7.5 billion to $6 billion. Of that total, $1billion in risk would be cut from properties in coastal areas. That may not be a mile, but it s more than an inch. That s adent in the problem, board member John Rollins said. With storms and other coverage, such as sinkholes, Citizens 1.5million customers have the state facing exposure to $500 billion inpotential claims. The board agreed to request legislators to allow rates to beadjusted to more actuarially sound figures through five steps,including making the Citizens rates no long competitive withprivate insurers. A similar effort, SB 1714 , died in the Senate in the spring. Outside the meeting, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, afrequent critic of Citizens, first requested Citizens PresidentScott Wallace to appear before the Senate Banking and FinanceCommittee as the Legislature begins the regular 60-day session nextmonth. "I have received a torrent of phone calls, emails and letters fromhomeowners and insurance agents requesting that I find out whyCitizens is conducting business in ways that, in some cases, areinconsistent from one homeowner to another," Fasano stated in arelease. "For example, I have received complaints that roofreplacement rules appear to be applied inconsistently." He added that further inconsistency appears in costs associatedwith carports, screen porches, and sinkhole claims and coverage. However, Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, chairman of the bankingcommittee, responded that there will not be enough time for tointerview Wallace. Instead, Fasano will submit written questions to Wallace whilestill pushing for a public hearing. Citizens board Chairman Carlos Lacasa has said legislative actionis needed to reduce the liability cap, just one of the potentialoptions to revamp the program that has grown more reliant uponnon-Citizens customers to keep the rates low for its customers. Reach Jim Turner at or at (772) 215-9889. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Water Playground Equipment Manufacturer , Aquasplash Water Park, and more. For more , please visit Water Playground Equipment today!
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