By Gary Fineout
Posted in the Florida Current
March 17, 2010
A House panel voted 11-3 on Wednesday for a comprehensive property insurance bill that would allow private insurance carriers to gradually raise their rates over the next several years.
The legislation, HB 447, initially would have allowed insurers to set their own rates. But the House Insurance, Business and Financial Affairs Committee adopted a 64-page amendment that reshaped the bill to more closely resemble SB 2044, a property insurance bill moving in the Senate.
The bill by Rep. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine, would allow insurers to raise rates by 5 percent in the first year, 10 percent in the second year and 15 percent every year thereafter. The Senate bill would allow insurers to raise rates up to 10 percent a year.
The committee passed the bill over the objections of Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw, who said allowing insurers to charge 15 percent a year into the future would be too much of a burden for consumers. The three no votes on the bill came from Rep. Pat Patterson, R-Deland and the committee chairman, Rep. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, and Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach.