Florida Underwriter magazine has recently formed an Editorial Advisory Board. Throughout the year, board members will bring readers an Inside View of the state's insurance industry, its politics, challenges, and successes. Our inaugural column by Mike Colodny focuses on the property market. For information on the board and its members, go to the www.floridaunderwriter.com home page.

Although legislative efforts at comprehensive Florida property insurance reform were ultimately vetoed this year, actual passage of SB 2044, along with other recent developments, may indicate a growing understanding by Florida lawmakers of underlying problems that continue to debilitate the state's property insurance market. In addition, the potential consequences from unaddressed issues surrounding Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund could fuel legislators' concerns in the coming months.

Like many of its successful omnibus predecessors, SB 2044 was passed in the hectic final hours of the legislative session. However, unlike its handling of previous enactments, the 2010 Legislature opted to engage in a more studied approach and analysis of the state's residential property insurance cost drivers. Topics of in-depth consideration included: The role and impact of reinsurance; the cost of capital; the application of windstorm mitigation credits; the rise in sinkhole claims and corresponding adjustment costs; the considerable growth in public adjusters' solicitation and claims activities; and the ability of policyholders to recover replacement cost value without any deduction for depreciation or having repairs actually performed. These and other significant issues were addressed by SB 2044, which was advocated by many — even Florida's Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty — as a positive step toward a partial remedy for the state's ongoing insurance crisis.