It is a simple question: Do they know when to stop?

That is what comes to mind while watching lawmakers bob and weave through the legislative session, leaving a trail of proposed property insurance reforms as they move through the hallways and committee rooms of the capitol. Traditionally speaking, after enacting a major series of reforms, the legislature usually takes a breather and waits to see how the market responds. And the more comprehensive or radical the reforms are, the more time is needed to see just how effective they are. But when it comes to the 2007-2008 legislature, it appears that tradition is thrown out with the dishwater. Having developed a taste for bold gestures last year, the legislature seems poised to see just how far it can go to change the intricate framework of the state's market.

Take, for example, Senator Jeff Atwater's (R-North Palm Beach) call to eliminate Citizens' wind-only policies so that it could only provide multi-peril coverage regardless of whether a homeowner lives in Ocala or on Miami Beach. Atwater is pushing the idea as a means to increase competition by playing the state off the private market, while improving Citizens' financial position by allowing it to earn more on the lucrative non-wind side of the premium equation. The Florida Association of Insurance Agents rightly points out that even at the risk of losing the non-wind coverage, most private carriers would be unwilling or unable to bear the risk that would come with taking on the wind portion of a policy.