I don’t know if this was quietly announced, or if I just missed it in the trade publications and Google searches I normally follow. However, while poking around myflorida.com to confirm the phone number of someone I needed to talk to this morning, I noticed that a Property-Casualty Insurance Reform Committee has been appointed in Florida, and is holding its first meeting tomorrow. From the press release:
Chaired by Lt. Governor Toni Jennings, the Committee will make recommendations to the Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives regarding insurance issues in Florida.
There’s no one from the industry on the Committee (although industry members are supposed to be appointed to a technical advisory committee, according to the press release), and a lack of industry participation in tomorrow’s agenda.
I could offer some cynical speculation on what the lack of industry participation means, but I won’t. I will hope, instead, that this is a kind of manifestation of my desire that Florida seek some creative solutions to its property insurance crisis, because I do have to admit that it’s easy to imagine the industry dragging its feet should too creative a solution be proposed.