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Jun 13, 2024, 12:53 by Samantha Bequer

Today, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky issued the following statement in support of Governor Ron DeSantis' 2024-2025 Focus on Florida's Future budget.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Today, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky issued the following statement in support of Governor Ron DeSantis' 2024-2025 Focus on Florida's Future budget:

"Governor DeSantis' budget strengthens the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's (OIR) ability to protect consumers and foster a market where insurance products are reliable, available, and affordable for Floridians," said Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky. "OIR is a national leader in identifying market trends and taking bold action because we collect more data about our insurance market than any other state or regulatory entity. Expanding our research and data collection capabilities will allow us to better understand the factors impacting our market so that we can make data-driven decisions to ensure Floridians benefit from a stable and competitive insurance market. I thank Governor DeSantis for his leadership and ongoing commitment to Florida's policyholders."

The Focus on Florida's Future budget invests over $237 million to support and strengthen Florida's residential home mitigation programs. 

Additional key highlights from the Focus on Florida's Future budget include:

• $1.1 million to bolster OIR's ability to curate data related to Florida's property insurance market. 
• $675,000 to contract for independent reinsurance and mitigation research experts to expand OIR's ability to review filings and recommend new tools to mitigate properties from hurricanes.
• $500,000 to study the impact of substantial improvement periods on community rating system discounts and insurance rates as calculated by FEMA and Florida's local floodplain managers.
• $475,000 to contract with a reinsurance expert to analyze reinsurance cycles and how they are impacting property insurance rates. 
• $200,000 to research and identify additional mitigation measures that provide discounts to consumers on their homeowners' insurance premium.

The budget also provides an additional $6 million increase for the Florida International University to upgrade and enhance the capabilities of the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model to improve the geographic assessments and to include perils not currently contemplated in the model. This comes at a time when Florida's property and casualty insurance market continues to strengthen.