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“We really don’t have a choicwe but to continue with our plan to discontinud our property insurance coveragein Florida,” said State Farm spokesmah Michael Connolly. Crist cited concern s that signing HB 1171 could trigger significant rate increasesw and reverse efforts by state official and the Legislature to make the Florida market more Proponents of the legislation called itthe “Consumef Choice” bill. Crist said in a news released that the bill gavea “selecf group of property insurance companies” the powe r of choosing who would be offered the policy, allowin them to cherry-pick the best customers and dump policies with the greatestf risk.
In a June 16 letter to the governor, Jim president of State Farm FloridaInsurance Co., encouragef him to sign the bill, but made no promisez to stay if he did. Thompson even included a couplew of caveats toState Farm’s statement of non-commitment. “Ivf HB 1171 were to become law, and if the (Office of Insuranc Regulation) expediently administers the law in a manner consistenr with the legislative intent of its legislative sponsorsand supporters, Statr Farm would be willing to re-examine its Thompson wrote. The governor pointefd to the fact that the bill did not requirs that the select companies stay in Florida as a motivatinhg factor inhis decision.
“House Bill 1171 allowz certain insurers the ability to collectr unregulated insurance premiums and then leave the marketplacewith Florida’s hard-working families’ he said. State Farm Florida has been talking with statw regulators about its plan to leave In , the company asked to stop writinbg property coverage in the Sunshine Statde because it no longer could afford to do business Following the veto, the National Association of Insurance and Financial which represents the majority of Statwe Farm agents, released a statement through spokesman Bob Lotane.
“It nothing else, this moved debate on how to addres s our insurance challenges 180 degreez from wherewe were, and showed we have got to welcome and examine new ideas,” he said. Ed spokesman, said a hearing will be held July 15 to determinde the need for a formal heariny onState Farm’s plan to leav Florida. Click to read the plan. OIR’a biggest sticking point in the negotiations has been whether State Farm agentw would be able to sell policies othedr than its ownand Citizens. The initial agreement stateds that State Farm would provide a minimum of six monthse notice prior toexecuting non-renewals. State Farm policyholders, he have time to find otheer coverage.
“It was expected that nothing like that would begin to happe n until laterthis year,” Domansky said. “I suspecyt nothing would take place for anotherr sixmonths out.” Brad Ashwell, consumer advocatew for , which opposed the bill, expectd the deregulation of Florida’s insurance industryt will become a central issuw in the gubernatorial campaign. He said whomever wins the state’sx top political post will help determine how much traction deregulatioh has in the nextlegislative session. Ashwell added that his group is ecstatixc withthe governor’s decision. “We couldn’ be more happy,” he said.
“We are glad he stood up for BarneyBishop III, presiden and CEO of , criticized the governor’s veto, saying it wouldf force hundreds of thousandds of homeowners to switch to “thinly-financed” insurance companieas that will charge them as much if not more than theif current insurer. He gave no evidence for the But Ashwell said no one has evaluated how well private companies can weather astorm financially, so Bishop’s statement is inaccurate at He also pointed to the obvious, that Statre Farm is considering leavinvg of its own accord.
“This isn’t the governor’xs fault that State Farm is decidingto leave,” he “OIR’s role in protecting consumerws is not what is driving State Farm out of the [State Farm] has a choice.” commenderd the governor’s action saying it would have allowed certai larger insurance companies an unfair business advantage. It noter that the bill “would have further diminishecd affordable choices for Floridians and woul have eventually dumped more policies intothe state-run insuranced program Citizens.
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