How are they broken?
Chuck Crist broke the Prop Insurance.
Eight hurricanes tore through Florida between 2004 and 2005, leaving homeowners on the hook for higher insurance premiums. Ahead of the 2006 governor’s race, the insurance market became a chief concern.
Crist, then a Republican, campaigned on a promise to help consumers and their wallets. After taking office, he called on the state Legislature to hold a special session on property insurance.
Florida statutes previously required the state-run insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp, to develop rates based on the state’s top insurers to avoid competing with the private market. HB 1A eliminated that requirement, and Citizens became a major competitor in the homeowners’ insurance market.
The average homeowners’ insurance premium declined 3% from 2008 to 2009. But falling rates were short-lived. Private insurers said they could not compete with Citizens’ frozen rates, a report from the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology found.
Citizens swelled by about 400,000 policies between 2004 and 2007, for a total of 1.2 million properties covered in 2010.
In 2009, Crist signed HB 1495 to end the rate freeze and allow Citizens to increase homeowners’ insurance premiums; the law capped rate increases to 10% until Citizens became actuarially sound, or in line with private insurers’ pricing practices.
Result, Most of the big companies ie, State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, pulled out of the FL market.
