Florida Senate Passes Citizens Insurance Overhaul

The Florida Senate is pushing ahead with a fix to the state’s largest property insurer despite criticism that it will hurt some consumers.

The Senate on Thursday voted 24-15 in favor of the bill that aims to shrink the size of Citizens Property Insurance. The state-created insurer currently has nearly 1.3 million policyholders.

The legislation (SB 1770) has a variety of measures including reducing the value of homes that can be covered by Citizens. It also aims to steer customers to private insurance companies.

Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, contended the changes were needed to stop Citizens providing “welfare to the wealthy.” But Simmons insisted the main changes would not apply to current Citizens customers.

But other senators faulted the bill and said it would increase customer rates.