Early this month, two Florida legislators introduced a billsimilar to one vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott this year that would givepolicyholders more options as they are moved out of CitizensProperty Insurance, reports WWSB.

Representatives Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, and DwightDudley, D-St. Petersburg, filed HB289, Operations of the Citizens Property InsuranceCorporation. A description on the Florida House ofRepresentatives website says of the bill:

Specifies that consumer representative appointed by Governorto corporation's board of governors is not prohibited frompracticing in certain professions; authorizes use of certainpolicyholder information by private insurers in analyzing risks;prohibits use of information to directly solicit policyholders;requires policyholder, after date certain, to receive certaininformation related to demonstrations of interest by insurers;allows policyholder to elect to limit frequency of solicitationsfor take-out offers; provides circumstances under whichpolicyholder whose policy was taken out to be considered renewalpolicyholder.

According to WWSB, the measure would allow policyholders toreturn to Citizens after being insured by private carriers andwould let consumers retain eligibility for Citizens coveragethrough the company's clearinghouse if private insurers increaseinitial premiums by more than 10% within 36 months afterpolicyholders are moved out of Citizens.

WWSB also notes the new proposal is similar to one vetoed byGov. Scott this past spring. At the time, Scott commented that thebill "undermines progress" in shifting policies into the privateinsurance market and "perpetuates reliance on Citizens," saysWWSB.

Citizens has greatly reduced its number of policies from arecord high of 1.5 million in 2012 to approximately 586,000today.

Read more from WWSB HERE.

Read more about HB289 HERE.