Florida Chief Financial Officer Adelaide "Alex" Sink announced appointees yesterday to the legislatively created study unit to examine claims handling by Citizens, the state's insurer of last resort.
"It is essential that we operate Citizens like a business and improve customer service for Citizens policyholders," she said.
The Task Force on Citizens Property Insurance Claims Handling and Resolution was created by House Bill 1A during this year's special legislative session.
It is composed of four full members, with one appointment each by the governor, chief financial officer, Senate president and House speaker. In addition, there are three ex-officio voting members: the insurance commissioner, insurance consumer advocate and executive director of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, or their designees.
Specifically, the committee is directed to develop recommendations for Citizens to complete claims remaining from the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons.
The task force is additionally charged with evaluating Citizens' procedures on claims handling, claims resolution and customer service, with a final report and recommendations due July 1, 2008.
Appointees to the task force include:
o Michael B. Twomey, Sr., Attorney (Tallahassee) – Gov. Charlie Crist.
o Mike Lancashire, vice president of claims at The Main Street America Group (Jacksonville) – CFO Sink.
o Sen. Mike Fasano – District 11 (New Port Richey) — Senate President Ken Pruitt.
o Rep. Julio Robaina – District 117 (Miami) — House Speaker Marco Rubio.
o Gen. Bob Milligan, insurance consumer advocate (Tallahassee) — Office of the Insurance Consumer Advocate.
o Heather Carruthers, Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe County (FIRM) (Key West) — Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty.
o Tim Loftin, senior vice president of claims at Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Jacksonville) — Citizens Executive Director Scott Wallace.
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