More property insurance reforms. The so-called Homeowners’ Bill of Rights (SB 2860 by Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-N. Palm Beach) seeks to improve upon the property insurance reforms enacted in 2007 by:
• Extending the rate freeze for Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort, to January 2010. The freeze was set to expire in January 2009;
• Allowing single-family residential properties and condos with a replacement value of up to $2 million into the Citizens insurance pool (up from $1 million, which was set to begin Jan. 1, 2009);
• Requiring Citizens’ policyholders of property located in wind-borne regions and with an insured value of $500,000 or more to disclose the property’s windstorm mitigation rating to prospective buyer. Language in an earlier version of the bill would have required all sellers to provide their property’s windstorm rating);
• Increasing fines for violations of the insurance code and for unfair trade practices by private insurers;
• Extending by one year to January 2010 a provision from last year’s insurance bill that requires insurers to get state approval before raising property insurance rates;
• Requiring insurers to notify state regulators 90 days before dropping more than 10,000 homeowners’ policies in one year;
• Requiring insurers to use state-approved methods to predict the risk of hurricanes, a key factor in setting rates.
