Florida lawmakers pass Citizens Insurance changes

TALLAHASSEE - Continuing efforts to shrink the state's Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the Florida House on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that could lead to at least some second homes moving from Citizens into the private insurance market.

The House unanimously passed the bill (HB 1503), which was approved by the Senate on Wednesday. It is ready to go to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

While the bill deals with a series of issues related to Citizens, much of the focus has been on a "depopulation" program that is designed to shift policies from Citizens into the private market. Currently, the program involves what are known as "admitted" insurance carriers, which face state regulation on issues such as rates.

The bill would open the depopulation program to "surplus lines" carriers, which are not subject to the same regulations as admitted carriers and often insure risky properties. Under the bill, surplus lines carriers would be able to assume policies from Citizens for residences that do not have homestead property-tax exemptions.