PLATFORM
Campaign 2006 Planks:
Insurance Reform
Insurance I am determined to protect Floridians from the current insurance crisis. My primary objective is to ensure that low and middle income Floridians do not lose their homes due to skyrocketing insurance rates. I will veto any proposal that does not protect average citizens.
I believe it is bad business to allow private insurance companies to cherry-pick the least risky policies and let the state- funded Citizens Property Insurance Corporation insure only the high-risk leftovers. The big insurance companies have privatized the profits and socialized the losses.
I intend to stop government-funded charity for millionaires. Citizens should only insure homes valued at less than one million dollars. Because Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is backed by the taxpayers of this state it has no business insuring high-risk, high-value homes and commercial projects along the Florida coast. We cannot ask the taxpayers to subsidize developers and wealthy who chose to put multi-million dollar properties in high-risk areas.
Florida’s insurance liability through the Citizens Insurance Corporation now has the potential to bankrupt the state. In the event of a disaster the state government could be on the hook to the tune of $400 billion.
There are great ideas that I want to discuss further: ideas like a cap on insurance for homes worth more than $1,000,000 in greater detail with the legislature in a special session. I will veto a bill that doesn’t meet the needs of the state.
If the legislature does not come to a satisfactory conclusion and adjourns, I will recall our lawmakers for special sessions repeatedly. These special legislative sessions will continue relentlessly until Florida’s lawmakers achieve a long-term resolution of the state’s insurance crisis.
In the past, all legislation has been tailored to benefit of the major insurance companies. I want to work with the legislature to create an insurance system that works for the people of Florida.
