Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced yesterday that he has decided to expand a probe by the Office of Insurance Regulation into State Farm plans to non-renew policyholders.
Company executives will now face two days of hearings instead of one, he said in a statement.
Mr. McCarty has issued subpoenas for material from State Farm Florida Insurance Company, State Farm Florida Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.
The first subpoenas were sent last month, requiring officials of the companies to appear and discuss their recently filed non-renewal plans, multi-line discounts, State Farm's decision to withdraw from the condominium business in Florida, and the impact these decisions may have on State Farm's rates.
An initial hearing set for Aug. 14 was postponed because the OIR said the companies had not supplied enough material.
Today, Mr. McCarty said in a statement that based on an extensive review of the State Farm documents submitted to the OIR, "a decision has been made to expand the scope of the review and the length of the public hearing."
The public hearing is now scheduled to last two days, Nov. 14-15, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Senate Office Building in Tallahassee.
Mr. McCarty said the hearing will be open to the public, and "input from interested parties is welcomed."
The hearing will be taped by the Florida Channel and video will be available online shortly after the proceedings at: http://www.floir.com/pcfr/RateHearingVideo.htm#OtherHearings.
People unable to attend the public hearing can forward comments to the OIR at ratehearings@fldfs.com. The subject lines of the e-mails should read "State Farm Hearing."
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