Senate Debates Bill to End Rate Freeze for Citizens Property Insurance
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
By: David Pitman

April 22, 2009 Debate begins today on the floor of the Florida Senate for a bill that would end the rate freeze for customers of Citizens Property Insurance. The state-run insurer of last resort would be allowed to increase its rates every year, until those rates are high enough to cover the potential claims from a major hurricane. The bill also reduces the state's exposure to the Catastrophe Fund, which provides backup insurance to insurance companies. Samuel Miller is the Executive Vice President of the Florida Insurance Council, a lobbying group that supports the measure. He told 90.7's David Pitman that Citizens needs to be able to increase its rates, otherwise, every property owner would have to pay higher surcharges after a big storm.

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90.7 contacted the Florida Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, for its stance on the insurance bill.  PIRG says Citizens’ rates do need to go up, but not during a recession.  And PIRG says it’s completely against the provision in the bill that would allow private insurance companies to automatically raise their rates by 10 percent a year without thorough review.