CS/HB 269

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to hurricane preparedness and insurance;
3	creating the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation
4	Mission Review Task Force; providing purposes; requiring a
5	report; providing report requirements; providing for
6	appointment of members; providing responsibilities;
7	specifying service without compensation; providing for
8	reimbursement of per diem and travel expenses; providing
9	meeting requirements; requiring the corporation to assist
10	the task force; providing for the expiration of the task
11	force; requiring the Chief Financial Officer to provide a
12	report on the economic impact on the state of certain
13	hurricanes; providing report requirements; providing an
14	effective date.
15
16	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18	Section 1.  (1)  The Citizens Property Insurance
19	Corporation Mission Review Task Force is created to analyze and
20	compile available data and to develop a report setting forth the
21	statutory and operational changes needed to return Citizens
22	Property Insurance Corporation to its former role as a state-
23	created, noncompetitive residual market mechanism that provides
24	property insurance coverage to risks that are otherwise entitled
25	but unable to obtain such coverage in the private insurance
26	market. The task force shall submit a report to the Governor,
27	the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
28	Representatives by January 31, 2009. At a minimum, the task
29	force shall analyze and evaluate relevant and applicable
30	information and data and develop recommendations concerning:
31	(a)  The nature of Citizens Property Insurance
32	Corporation's role in providing property insurance coverage only
33	if such coverage is not available from private insurers.
34	(b)  The ability of the admitted market to offer policies
35	to those consumers formerly insured through Citizens Property
36	Insurance Corporation. This consideration shall include, but not
37	be limited to, the availability of private market reinsurance
38	and coverage through the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, the
39	general adequacy of the admitted market's current rates, and the
40	capacity of the industry to offer policies to former Citizens
41	Property Insurance Corporation policyholders within existing
42	writing ratio limitations.
43	(c)  The appropriate relationship of rates charged by
44	Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to rates charged by
45	private insurers, with due consideration for the corporation's
46	role as a noncompetitive residual market mechanism.
47	(d)  The relationships between the exposure of Citizens
48	Property Insurance Corporation to catastrophic hurricane losses,
49	the corporation's history of purchasing inadequate or no
50	reinsurance coverage, and the corporation's lack of adequate
51	capital to meet its potential claim obligations without
52	incurring large deficits.
53	(e)  The adverse effects on the people and the economy of
54	this state of the large, multiyear deficit assessments by
55	Citizens Property Insurance Corporation that may be levied on
56	businesses and households in this state, and steps that can be
57	taken to reduce those effects.
58	(f)  The operational implications of the variation in the
59	number of policies in force over time in Citizens Property
60	Insurance Corporation and the merits of outsourcing some or all
61	of its operational responsibilities.
62	(g)  Changes in the mission and operations of Citizens
63	Property Insurance Corporation to reduce or eliminate any
64	adverse effect such mission and operations may be having on the
65	promotion of sound and economic growth and development of the
66	coastal areas of this state.
67	(h)  Appropriate and consistent geographic boundaries of
68	the high-risk account.
69	(2)  The task force shall be composed of 19 members as
70	follows:
71	(a)  Three members appointed by the Speaker of the House of
72	Representatives.
73	(b)  Three members appointed by the President of the
74	Senate.
75	(c)  Four members appointed by the Governor who are not
76	employed by or professionally affiliated with an insurance
77	company or a subsidiary of an insurance company, at least two of
78	whom must be consumer advocates or members of a consumer
79	advocacy organization or agency.
80	(d)  Nine members appointed as representatives of private
81	insurance companies as follows:
82	1.  Two members representing two separate insurance
83	companies that each provide at least 150,000 homeowner's
84	insurance policies in this state at the time of the creation of
85	the task force.
86	2.  Two members representing two separate insurance
87	companies that each provide fewer than 150,000 homeowner's
88	insurance policies in this state at the time of the creation of
89	the task force.
90	3.  Two members representing two separate insurance
91	companies among the 10 insurance companies writing the greatest
92	amount of commercial multiperil insurance premium in this state
93	at the time of the creation of the task force.
94	4.  Three members appointed by the Chief Financial Officer
95	representing insurance agents in this state.
96
97	Of each pair of members appointed under subparagraphs 1., 2.,
98	and 3., one shall be appointed by the President of the Senate
99	and one by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
100	(3)  The task force shall conduct research, hold public
101	meetings, receive testimony, employ consultants and
102	administrative staff, and undertake other activities determined
103	by its members to be necessary to complete its responsibilities.
104	Citizens Property Insurance Corporation shall have appropriate
105	senior staff attend task force meetings, shall respond to
106	requests for testimony and data by the task force, shall
107	otherwise cooperate with the task force, and shall provide
108	funding for the necessary costs of implementing the provisions
109	of this section.
110	(4)  A member of the task force may not delegate his or her
111	attendance or voting power to a designee.
112	(5)  Members of the task force shall serve without
113	compensation but are entitled to receive reimbursement for
114	travel and per diem as provided in s. 112.061, Florida Statutes.
115	(6)  The appointments to the task force must be completed
116	within 30 calendar days after the effective date of this act,
117	and the task force must hold its initial meeting within 1 month
118	after appointment of all members. The task force shall expire no
119	later than 60 calendar days after submission of the report
120	required in subsection (1).
121	Section 2.  The Chief Financial Officer shall provide a
122	report on the economic impact on the state of a 1-in-100-year
123	hurricane to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the
124	Speaker of the House of Representatives by March 1 of each year.
125	The report shall include an estimate of the short-term and long-
126	term fiscal impacts of such a storm on Citizens Property
127	Insurance Corporation, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund,
128	the private insurance and reinsurance markets, the state
129	economy, and the state debt. The report may also include
130	recommendations by the Chief Financial Officer for preparing for
131	such a hurricane and reducing the economic impact of such a
132	hurricane on the state. In preparing the analysis, the Chief
133	Financial Officer shall coordinate with and obtain data from the
134	Office of Insurance Regulation, Citizens Property Insurance
135	Corporation, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, the Florida
136	Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology, the State
137	Board of Administration, the Office of Economic and Demographic
138	Research, and other state agencies.
139	Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.