By A. G. Gancarski
FloridaPolitics.com
March 22, 2022
‘I’m ready. I’ve got a pen ready.’
In Wellington last Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said his administration would be “very receptive” to a Special Session to address issues in Florida’s property insurance market, and perhaps condo safety legislation as well.
The Governor, during a news conference at a charter school, said in response to a reporter’s question that he was ready to sign a deal if the House and Senate could agree.
“I would welcome that,” DeSantis said. “I think the Legislature just didn’t come through with it. If they can get an agreement, they should do it.”
DeSantis expressed optimism that lawmakers could come together on an agreement after the clock ran out during the regular Legislative Session.
“I’m confident that we’re going to see something along those lines at some point within the next year. … I think they realize that that will be something that we can do,” DeSantis added.
“So I’m ready. I’ve got a pen ready. And if they do it, we’ll be very receptive to that.”
DeSantis’ comments come in the wake of Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes of Clearwater imploring him to call a Special Session.
“If I was advising the Governor, I would say, ‘Listen if you don’t call a Special Session on this, you’re going to begin to own some of these rate increases,’” Brandes told WFLA.
The Senate passed legislation this year that would have offered some fixes, but it was not heard in the House.
The bill that passed the Senate took aim at frivolous claims and lawsuits, sought to impose a roof deductible and tried to make it easier for private companies to take policies out of state-run Citizens Property Insurance. The effort was backdropped by a market in trouble: large rate increases for policy holders; 110,000 canceled policies in the last 12 months; and a major company, St. Johns Insurance Co., entering receivership.
The situation led Senate President Wilton Simpson, a Trilby Republican, to declare last month that the Legislature “will have failed our citizens” if nothing is done to address the situation. But the House didn’t seem to share the enthusiasm for the Senate product.
The reporter’s question in Wellington also touched on fixes for the troubled condo sector, under scrutiny in the wake of the Surfside collapse last year. The House and Senate failed to agree on the details of potential improvements to regulatory laws, leaving current provisions in place allowing condo associations to not set aside money to pay for structural repairs.
Specifically, the Senate removed a requirement for a reserve fund to pay for repairs, something the House insisted upon.
These were two issues left for dead after Sine Die. But DeSantis’ comments suggest there may be a heartbeat yet.
Gray Rohrer of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
