House backs changes to Citizens clearinghouse as lawmakers weigh consumer protections

The Florida House on March 9 approved CS for CS for SB 1028, a major change affecting how commercial property insurance is sourced and whether Citizens Property Insurance will remain the insurer of last resort for certain commercial lines.

Under the bill, a private clearinghouse administrator would present surplus-lines offers that are comparable and within a defined pricing range (15 percent) of a Citizens offer; where a comparable surplus-lines offer exists, new commercial policies would be kept out of Citizens to reduce public exposure. Supporters argued that shifting commercial exposure to financially robust private carriers protects taxpayers and reflects market capacity. Representative Redondo described the reform as restoring Citizens to a limited insurer-of-last-resort role and said the bill includes safeguards for offer comparability.

Opponents raised concerns about conflicts of interest if a private administrator steers business, the adequacy of oversight, and whether policyholders could be effectively 'pushed' into surplus-lines markets with different consumer protections. Representative Eskamani and others asked for clear guardrails around procurement, oversight of the administrator, and robust reporting to ensure the 15% threshold and 'equal or better' coverage standards are enforced.

The House adopted the bill after detailed floor questions about audits, procurement standards and who would police the clearinghouse administrator. The final recorded vote was 88 yeas to 19 nays.