Florida Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, is calling for a repeal of this year's massive property-insurance bill, SB 408, following the state insurer of last resort's decision to file for an average 400 percent rate increase for sinkhole coverage.

“We need to repeal it completely and go back to the 10 percent cap [on rate increases],” says Fasano during a radio interview on WMNF 88.5 in Tampa.

Fasano was one of the leading opponents of SB 408, which contains numerous property-insurance reforms, including a provision that allows Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to increase sinkhole-insurance rates beyond a 10 percent cap that applies to other types of insurance it offers.

Fasano tells the radio station that even though he was against the bill, he never imagined this type of rate increase.

“Never in a million years…never did I think this would happen,” he says.

Citizens' board has approved filing the rate request with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). In some parts of Florida, rates for sinkhole coverage—which is required by some lenders—could go up more than 2,000 percent.

News reports say that Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has indicated he would prefer to see such an increase phased in.

Citizens says its proposed rate increases are based on loss history. The last-resort insurer says it lost more than $200 million on sinkhole coverage in 2010, which was about twice as much as the previous year.

Special Reports /

Fla. Sen. Wants State&rsquo;s Property Bill Repealed Amid Sinkhole-Rate Request

Related Stories

Recommended For You

Fla. Sen. Wants State’s Property Bill Repealed Amid Sinkhole-Rate Request