Florida governor calls for second special session to fix state’s troubled insurance market

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that state legislators have agreed to hold a special session after the November 8 election and before the year ends, to address Florida’s deteriorating insurance market.

The governor revealed in a recent event in Fort Myers that the incoming House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo were “ready, willing and able” to help the property insurance market get “on a stable footing.” DeSantis also said that the Legislature would also provide property tax rebates to those affected by Hurricane Ian in the form of an executive order delaying tax payment deadlines for the impacted.

“It costs way more to replace a roof today than it did just three years ago,” the governor said. “So we need to do everything we can to push back on that and fight for a more competitive market where rates are incentivized to go down.”

Politico reported that this is the second time this year that Florida legislators are being asked to tackle the state’s troubled property insurance market. The last special session was held in May, wherein the state agreed to create a $2 billion reinsurance fund for private insurers operating in the state. Lawmakers also agreed then to invest $150 million into a hurricane mitigation program which would improve the resilience of homes, while revising rules around insurance litigation – a measure meant to control the rampant insurance litigation in Florida.

Read more: Florida insurance commissioner named in lawsuit

“There were some very positive reforms that were done,” DeSantis said of the previous special session. “But there also were things we wanted to do that the Legislature at that time was not willing to do. I think we will be able to do that in this special session.”