'Some good stuff' in 2021 law

The House and Senate could not reach agreement during this year's regular session on a property insurance bill, with the Senate wanting to go further than the House to bolster the insurance industry. House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said more time was needed to see the results of changes made in a 2021 insurance law.

DeSantis on Monday said the 2021 law had some "good stuff."

"But it just didn't do enough, I think, to really stabilize this situation," he said. "And so that's going to be what we're trying to do, and I think that is something we must do."

Three Florida property insurers — Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp., Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and St. Johns Insurance Co. — have been declared insolvent and gone into receivership since February.

Also, the Office of Insurance Regulation recently heard proposals by First Floridian Auto and Home Insurance Co., Kin Interinsurance Network and Florida Farm Bureau General Insurance Co. and Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. that would raise homeowners' rates by more than 20%.

An agreement reached on May 14, 2022, will lead to 56,500 FedNat Insurance Co. policies being canceled and another 83,000 FedNat policies moving to Monarch National Insurance Co. It also cited a plan to "wind down the operation" of FedNat.

About 8,400 Monarch policies and all 3,300 of Maison Insurance Co.'s Florida policies will be canceled. Also, a new investor will put capital into Monarch, though details of that investment were not included in the consent order.

It is not clear where the 68,200 canceled policyholders will find coverage, particularly because they will be looking for new insurance around the beginning of hurricane season. With other insurers dropping policies, the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. had grown to 851,000 policies as of the end of April — up from 589,000 policies a year earlier.

Citizens, which was created as an insurer of last resort, has typically picked up 20%-25% of the policies that have been shed when financially troubled companies went into receivership, said Michael Peltier, a Citizens spokesman. At least part of the policies from FedNat, Monarch and Maison are expected to wind up with Citizens.

"It's not going to be all of them," Peltier said. "But it'll be a chunk."

During a call last week with analysts, Michael Braun, chief executive officer of FedNat Holding Co., which includes FedNat Insurance, Monarch and Maison, acknowledged the problems in the market are having far-ranging effects.

"It's very difficult on the policyholders, it's very difficult on the agents, it's very disruptive. People are having a lot of trouble finding coverage. Citizens (Property Insurance) is growing exponentially," Braun said.

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Insurers cancel policies while DeSantis says property insurance reforms coming

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