| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to a residential property structural |
| 3 | soundness evaluation grant program; amending s. 627.0629, |
| 4 | F.S.; deleting an obsolete Citizens Property Insurance |
| 5 | Corporation residential property structural soundness |
| 6 | evaluation grant program; providing an effective date. |
| 7 |
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| 8 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 9 |
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| 10 | Section 1. Subsections (8) and (9) of section 627.0629, |
| 11 | Florida Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 12 | 627.0629 Residential property insurance; rate filings.- |
| 13 | (8) EVALUATION OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY STRUCTURAL |
| 14 | SOUNDNESS.- |
| 15 | (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide a |
| 16 | program whereby homeowners may obtain an evaluation of the wind |
| 17 | resistance of their homes with respect to preventing damage from |
| 18 | hurricanes, together with a recommendation of reasonable steps |
| 19 | that may be taken to upgrade their homes to better withstand |
| 20 | hurricane force winds. |
| 21 | (b) To the extent that funds are provided for this purpose |
| 22 | in the General Appropriations Act, the Legislature hereby |
| 23 | authorizes the establishment of a program to be administered by |
| 24 | the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation for homeowners |
| 25 | insured in the high-risk account. |
| 26 | (c) The program shall provide grants to homeowners, for |
| 27 | the purpose of providing homeowner applicants with funds to |
| 28 | conduct an evaluation of the integrity of their homes with |
| 29 | respect to withstanding hurricane force winds, recommendations |
| 30 | to retrofit the homes to better withstand damage from such |
| 31 | winds, and the estimated cost to make the recommended retrofits. |
| 32 | (d) The Department of Community Affairs shall establish by |
| 33 | rule standards to govern the quality of the evaluation, the |
| 34 | quality of the recommendations for retrofitting, the eligibility |
| 35 | of the persons conducting the evaluation, and the selection of |
| 36 | applicants under the program. In establishing the rule, the |
| 37 | Department of Community Affairs shall consult with the advisory |
| 38 | committee to minimize the possibility of fraud or abuse in the |
| 39 | evaluation and retrofitting process, and to ensure that funds |
| 40 | spent by homeowners acting on the recommendations achieve |
| 41 | positive results. |
| 42 | (e) The Citizens Property Insurance Corporation shall |
| 43 | identify areas of this state with the greatest wind risk to |
| 44 | residential properties and recommend annually to the Department |
| 45 | of Community Affairs priority target areas for such evaluations |
| 46 | and inclusion with the associated residential construction |
| 47 | mitigation program. |
| 48 | (8)(9) A property insurance rate filing that includes any |
| 49 | adjustments related to premiums paid to the Florida Hurricane |
| 50 | Catastrophe Fund must include a complete calculation of the |
| 51 | insurer's catastrophe load, and the information in the filing |
| 52 | may not be limited solely to recovery of moneys paid to the |
| 53 | fund. |
| 54 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011. |