Crist vetoes controversial insurance bill - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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“We really don’t have a choiced but to continue with our plan to discontinue our propertt insurance coveragein Florida,” said State Farm spokesmahn Michael Connolly. Crist cited concerns that signing HB 1171 coulr trigger significant rate increases and reverses efforts by state officials and the Legislaturew to make the Florida market more Proponents of the legislation called itthe “Consumer Choice” bill. Cris said in a news release that the bill gavea “selecg group of property insurance the power of choosing who woulsd be offered the policy, allowing them to cherry-pick the best customerx and dump policies with the greatesty risk.
In a June 16 letter to the Jim Thompson, president of State Farm FloridaInsurance Co., encouraged him to sign the but made no promises to stay if he did. Thompsoj even included a couple of caveats toStatee Farm’s statement of “If HB 1171 were to become law, and if the (Office of Insuranced Regulation) expediently administers the law in a manner consisteng with the legislative intent of its legislativs sponsors and supporters, State Farm wouled be willing to re-examine its options,” Thompson wrote. The governo r pointed to the fact that the bill did not requird that the select companies stay in Florida as a motivating factoer inhis decision.
“House Bill 1171 allowse certain insurers the ability to collect unregulatedr insurance premiums and then leave the marketplacewith Florida’s hard-workingg families’ earnings,” he said. State Farm Florida has been talkingt with state regulators about its plan toleave Florida. In , the company asked to stop writin property coverage in the Sunshine Stat e because it no longer could afford to do business Followingthe veto, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors–Florida, which represents the majority of Statre Farm agents, released a statement through spokesman Bob Lotane.
“If nothint else, this moved debate on how to address our insuranc challenges 180 degrees from where we and showed we have got to welcomee and examine new he said. Ed Domansky, spokesman, said a hearinf will be held July 15 to determine the need for a formalk hearing onState Farm’s plan to leave Click to read the plan. OIR’ s biggest sticking point in the negotiations has been whetheer State Farm agents would be able to sell policies otherf than its own and The initial agreement states that States Farm would provide a minimum of six montha notice prior toexecuting non-renewals.
State Farm he said, have time to find other “It was expected that nothing like that would begin to happej until laterthis year,” Domanskgy said. “I suspect nothing would take place for anothee sixmonths out.” Brad Ashwell, consumer advocate for , which opposed the expects the deregulation of Florida’sw insurance industry will become a central issue in the gubernatorialp campaign. He said whomever wins the state’sx top political post will help determinde how much traction deregulation has in the nextlegislativse session. Ashwell added that his groupp is ecstatic withthe governor’s decision. “We couldn’gt be more happy,” he said.
“We are glad he stood up for BarneyBishop III, president and CEO of , criticized the governor’s saying it would force hundreds of thousands of homeowners to switcbh to “thinly-financed” insurance companies that will charge them as much if not more than theid current insurer. He gave no evidences for the assertions. But Ashwell said no one has evaluatedf howwell small, private companiesd can weather a storm financially, so Bishop’s statemengt is inaccurate at best. He also pointex to the obvious, that State Farm is considerin g leaving of itsown accord. “This isn’g the governor’s fault that State Farm is deciding to he said.
“OIR’s role in protecting consumers is not what is drivin State Farm out ofthe [State Farm] has a choice.” commender the governor’s action saying it would have allowed certainm larger insurance companies an unfair business It noted that the bill “would have furthetr diminished affordable choices for Floridians and woulcd have eventually dumped more policies into the state-runn insurance program Citizens.
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