“The restoration of Florida’s broken property insurance market has been a top priority of the James Madison Institute for years. We concur with Florida TaxWatch that action must be taken to better protect all Floridians from the risk of a financial calamity. The Florida Legislature would be wise to take immediate steps to limit the exposure of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and allow the private market to assume the risk in order to stabilize the state’s insurance market, before it’s too late.” –JMI President Dr. J. Robert McClure
READ FULL RELEASE BELOW:
For Immediate Release: November 2, 2011
Contact: Melissa Richman
melissa@coremessage.com
850-597-0004Florida Nonprofits and Business Groups Address Findings of Florida TaxWatch Property Insurance ReportTallahassee, FL – Following the release of “Risk & Reform: A Florida TaxWatch Analysis of Florida’s Property Insurance System” nonprofits and business groups throughout the state expressed their support of the research findings. With less than three months before the start of the 2012 state legislative session, the groups, who have worked together for years supporting reform of both Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, applaud Florida TaxWatch for researching, analyzing and compiling the report, which will hopefully provide the Florida Legislature with the necessary information to make the appropriate changes to the system this session.Jose L. Gonzalez, Vice-President, Governmental Affairs, Associated Industries of Florida
“For years, we have stressed the importance of eliminating ‘hurricane taxes’ to protect Florida businesses and business owners. As mentioned in the report, the current system, which enables Florida to pay for a storm after the fact, creates uncertainty for policyholders. With regard to the business community, the report points out ‘this uncertainty, especially among business owners who receive little or no benefit from either the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund or Citizens Property Insurance Corp., could make the difference in a potential company relocating to Florida versus another state.’ For the sake of continuing to revitalize Florida’s economy and protecting the citizens of this great state, we urge the Florida Legislature to review the recommendations within the report and take the necessary action this session to reform Florida’s property insurance market.”Manley K. Fuller, President, Florida Wildlife Federation
“As pointed out in the Florida TaxWatch report that was released today, ‘whether they realize it or not, policyholders in Florida are currently paying assessments to pay for damage from the 2005 storm season, and will be paying some of those assessments until 2016.’ So despite the fact we’ve been hurricane-free for years, hurricane taxes of the past continue to haunt us. If a storm hits next year or the year after that, all that means is more assessments. We urge the Florida Legislature to enact reform that will end the practice of allowing Citizens and the Cat Fund to subsidize reckless coastal development, which eliminates natural storm buffers, like barrier islands and coastal wetlands that diminish storm energy and floods. Restructuring the state-run entities and taking the burden off the backs of all Floridians should be the top priority of our elected officials this upcoming session.”Dr. J. Robert McClure, III, President and CEO, The James Madison Institute
“The restoration of Florida’s broken property insurance market has been a top priority of the James Madison Institute for years. We concur with Florida TaxWatch that action must be taken to better protect all Floridians from the risk of a financial calamity. The Florida Legislature would be wise to take immediate steps to limit the exposure of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and allow the private market to assume the risk in order to stabilize the state’s insurance market, before it’s too late.”
