By JENNIFER
LIBERTO
Published April 13, 2007
TALLAHASSEE --
The governor who declared victory over boundless insurance premiums after
January's special session may not be so satisfied with the new status quo after
all.
On Thursday,
Gov. Charlie Crist shed his hands-off leadership style and surprised lawmakers
with an unannounced visit to a legislative committee meeting. It was his second
surprise visit this week.
Both committees
had one thing in common: On their agendas was a bill that would make it easier
for state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to undercut private companies
and lure away homeowners with lower premiums.
"I came to
thank the members for their support ... to give Citizens insurance the
opportunity to compete so that we can get lower and lower rates for our
people," Crist said Thursday morning after testifying before a House
committee that voted 12-2 for his bill. "They still expect more and so do
I."
Suddenly, this
Citizens bill that neither chamber had time to consider in the first half of
the session is moving briskly. The Senate leadership removed one of the bill's
stops before a committee.
Yet the bill is
drawing whispered criticisms from lawmakers because it pushes even further the
"save now and pay later" philosophy adopted during that special
session.
Even Chief
Financial Officer Alex Sink said she is worried about parts of the bill.
"I'm just
very concerned that we're about to make the state-run insurer the only insurer
in Florida," Sink said after reviewing the bill.
Freeze
on rates
The House and
Senate bills would do the same thing: allow homeowners who are insured
privately to move to Citizens if their insurance company is charging 15 percent
more than Citizens would. Under current law, the one enacted just months ago,
homeowners can jump to Citizens only if the premium difference is 25 percent
higher.
The House
version of the bill also would extend the current freeze on Citizens rates until
January 1, 2009. Rates are currently capped at 2006 levels until next year.
Citizens rates
are expected to increase when the freeze ends at the end of this year, in part
to pay for discounts the company must, by law, offer to policyholders who
harden their homes. Crist's staff says the idea behind extending the rate
freeze is to give the other changes in insurance law that were made during the
special session more time to work.
Sink says she is
worried that such a delay would jeopardize the state-run insurer's ability to
charge actuarial sound rates.
Crist said,
"The people were very direct, and I'm glad they were, they said get those
insurance premiums lower. I want to convey their will."
But Rep. Don
Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, one of the few lawmakers who would publicly
criticize the bill, said the legislation increases the likelihood that all
Floridians will have to pay to cover Citizens' debts in a hurricane season.
"Three out
of every four people in Florida ought to be very concerned about it, because
they're going to get the bill, despite the governor's best intentions,"
said Brown, who voted against Crist's bill, along with Rep. Dave Murzin,
R-Pensacola.
'They do
not sleep'
The bill also
tries to protect Citizen's federal tax exempt status and resurrects old
language the Legislature failed to pass during the special session that would
prohibit the creation of Florida-only subsidiaries for insurance companies. It
also would require parent companies to report their profits to the state.
Crist said that
his recent, aggressive push for the legislation is not in response to
criticisms from homeowners who say insurance rates haven't dropped enough.
"I want to
continue to press and be vigilant, because the insurance industry lobby is
extremely skilled and they do not sleep and they will try to come in through
every crack or crevice they can find to get rates not to drop as much as they
should and to turn around," Crist said. "And I want to be just as
tenacious, if not more so."
©
2007 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times