CEI Florida Insurance Project Lauds Legislative Action on Proctor Bill

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Washington, D.C.,
March 27, 2009—The Florida House of Representatives Policy Committee on
Insurance, Business, and Financial Affairs today unanimously approved HB 1171 –
the first major market-freeing insurance reform since 2007. The bill, which
still must pass the full House and Senate, would significantly expand the
availability of property insurance throughout Florida.

The
proposal – proffered by Rep. William Proctor (R-St. Augustine) – would allow
insurers to bypass the state’s current rate regulation process and therefore
make themselves immune from the potentially enormous assessments that could
arise if the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation should it find itself
unable to pay claims following a major hurricane strike. Citizens, a state
agency, serves as the largest provider of property insurance in Florida.

“The
passage of this legislation would truly be a positive step toward a real free
market solution to Florida’s
insurance crisis,” said Christian
Cámara
, Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Florida
Insurance Project. “Many Floridians would prefer to have the choice of staying
with their insurance provider of many years rather than lose them to onerous
bureaucratic regulations. This proposal eases those regulations and encourages
private companies to return or stay in Florida,
thereby giving consumers more choices when it comes to insuring their homes.”

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan
public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited
government.  For more information about
CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.