Latest news with #FloridaHurricaneCatastropheFund
Newsweek
11-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Florida Makes Major Change to Insurance Industry: What To Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 5013 into law earlier this month, terminating one state-funded reinsurance program and substantially cutting funding for a second. Newsweek contacted DeSantis' press office for comment on Friday via email outside regular office hours. Why It Matters In 2022, the Reinsurance to Assist Policyholders (RAP) program was created in Florida with taxpayer funding to reimburse insurers for losses related to hurricanes, providing additional funding for the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. Securing insurance in Florida and other states impacted by extreme weather has become a major issue for many property owners, with premiums surging in recent years. A reduction in state support for the reinsurance market could result in a greater reliance on private companies, potentially causing premiums to increase. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference on April 10, 2025, in Miami. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference on April 10, 2025, in Miami. Joe Raedle/GETTY What To Know Florida House Bill 5013 reduces RAP program funding by $900 million and also repeals the legislation that created the Florida Operational Reinsurance Assistance Program (FORA), which received an additional $1 billion to cover reinsurance claims. Initially, RAP was supposed to last for only two years, but the plan was extended after Hurricane Ian caused extensive property damage in 2022. A report from industry publication ReInsurance Business found that payments under the RAP did not meet initial expectations. The 2022 Hurricane Nicole did not result in RAP disbursements because of threshold limits, while Hurricane Idalia in 2023 led to only $15 million being transferred, freeing up additional capital that is now being returned to the general state revenue. By comparison, after Hurricane Ian, $800 million was transferred into the RAP, with the State Board of Administration forecasting that about 50 companies would receive full payouts from the plan. The summary of Florida House Bill 5013 states: "HB 5013 reduces, from $2 billion to $900 million, the General Revenue (GR) Fund transfers authorized under the Reinsurance to Assist Policyholders (RAP) Program to reimburse eligible insurers for covered losses. The bill repeals the Florida Optional Reinsurance Assistance (FORA) Program, including $1 billion of authorized General Revenue Fund transfers that are available under the program to reimburse eligible insurers for covered losses. "By reducing the cap for transfers to the RAP program and repealing the FORA program, the bill increases the amount of unallocated General Revenue funds available by $2.1 billion." What Happens Next It remains to be seen whether private insurers will be able to pick up the slack caused by the reduction in state support without increasing customer premiums. It will depend in part on the severity of future hurricanes that hit Florida.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
He's running: David Jolly's campaign for Florida governor takes aim against culture wars
After teasing at a run, former GOP congressman David Jolly made it official this week, saying he's running for governor of Florida in 2026. Jolly, who left the Republican Party in President Donald Trump's first term, now wants to talk to voters about why he is running as a Democrat at a time when the party is at a record low, holds no statewide offices and outnumbered 2–1 in the state's Legislature. He's formed a political action committee to raise money and has been meeting with local political clubs. He says he's been telling voters his No. 1 priority is to drive down the cost of property insurance premiums, which is making Florida unaffordable for many. Experts say Florida's insurance market has been in crisis for a decade, with rates rising more than 30% since 2022 when the Legislature passed a package of reforms to stabilize the market. Jolly has a plan to reduce premiums by 50% for most homeowners: 'We need a state catastrophic fund to remove natural disaster perils from the private insurance market,' Jolly said, separate from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, "a tax-exempt state trust fund that provides reimbursements to residential property insurance companies for a portion of their catastrophic hurricane losses in Florida," its website says. In the current red state of Florida, however, any Democrat has the odds stacked against him or her to become chief executive. Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Naples is the only announced leading Republican candidate and has been endorsed by Trump. And there's still wide speculation that it's not if but when First Lady Casey DeSantis jumps into the race. Undaunted by the opposition, Jolly's platform includes a massive boost to public education with a 30% increase in teacher salaries, a corruption and ethics reform package for elected officials, and expanding access to abortion, among other issues. But probe Jolly about why he is running and it becomes clear he wants to be a governor who cleanses the state of Gov. Ron DeSantis' culture wars, such as championing Florida as a leader in mass deportation of immigrants. 'I think that culture wars have broken who we are as a community. I think that culture wars have shattered who we are as a state. I think they are ugly, they're divisive, and they should be condemned,' Jolly said. In a discussion of the Department of Environmental Protection appeal of a federal court order to pause permits for septic systems after wastewater discharges in the Indian River Lagoon led to a mass starvation of manatees, Jolly said DeSantis planted "ideologues" in decision-making positions on boards and in departments and agencies that regulate business, protect the environment and oversees public education and the State University System. "I think Ron DeSantis, either through political favor or through an ideological agenda, continues to put people in places that probably are not deserving of those roles. I do think if I have the opportunity to serve as governor, one of the first things we do is we review all those appointments and we dismiss many of them," Jolly said. Three years ago on MSNBC, after DeSantis signed the Stop Woke Act, which restricts how schools discuss racism, gender, and social privileges and prohibits lessons focused on how they impact society, Jolly said he and his wife Laura considered moving out of Florida to raise their two children elsewhere. "Why would I want to raise my kids in an environment in which they're shamed for embracing diversity of thought and diverse cultures," Jolly said. But they decided to stay and fight a state Republican Party that he said has doubled down on a culture-war agenda. His candidacy is a notable feature in the current political landscape: He's the first Democrat with any statewide name recognition, largely due to his TV punditry, to announce for governor. Jolly, a Dunedin native with deep ties to Tampa politics, served as an aide to the late Republican Congressman Bill Young for 19 years. He succeeded Young when he defeated former state CFO Alex Sink in a 2014 special election after Young's death. Jolly called on Trump to withdraw from the 2016 presidential primary after Trump proposed an immigration ban for Muslims. Later that year, he lost a reelection bid to former Gov. Charlie Crist, who left Congress in 2022 to run for governor of Florida. Jolly thinks he can harness the energy evident in a series of statewide protests in April and May over policies advanced by Trump and backed by DeSantis and forge a winning coalition of Democrats, moderate Republicans like he once was, and no-party-affiliated voters. But he knows he faces a 'Herculean task.' He seeks to revive enthusiasm in a Democratic base demoralized by the 2024 election, when their top-of-the-ticket candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris for president and former Congresswoman Debbie Muscarel-Powell for U.S. Senate, lost. Democrats also lost two seats in the Florida House and watched two more members flee to join the Republican majority. The House breakdown now is 86 GOP, 33 Democratic, with one vacancy. Then the Senate Democratic leader at the time, Jason Pizzo of Miami-Dade County, resigned and quit the party, declaring it "dead." Pizzo since has said he will launch a gubernatorial campaign as an independent. Democratic megadonor John Morgan, who financed ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage and allow the use of medical marijuana, said he is considering starting a new party and running for governor. 'Jolly is a nice guy looking for a lane to be relevant,' Morgan said when asked if a Jolly candidacy changes whether he will decide to mount a gubernatorial bid. It doesn't: 'For the short run I agree with DeSantis that the Democratic Party is dead meat,' Morgan said. Morgan also agrees with Jolly that affordability, which he refers to as income inequality, will be the No. 1 issue in 2026. He's sticking with his plan of watching the race develop and waiting until 'the horses are coming down the stretch,' which would be around the Aug. 2026 primary, to decide whether to run. In the meantime, Democrats continue to lose voters as Republicans have registered more voters than Democrats for seven straight years. 'I think trends don't last forever," said University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett. "At some point, Republican gains are going to level off and Democratic losses are going to stop, right? "But every month I look and here we are. Seven years later and it still hasn't stopped,' Jewett added. The GOP now has a one-million voter registration advantage over Democrats in Florida. Jewett said if Pizzo and Morgan were to get into the race, the odds would tilt heavily towards the GOP candidate. 'If you're the Republican candidate, you've got to feel pretty good about a four-way race. They are the dominant party and most of their voters are not going to abandon the party while the other three candidates split the anti-GOP vote,' Jewett said. But Jolly sees the public rejecting much of what Republicans in Tallahassee are offering. He said 2026 will be a once-in-a-generation election in which a dramatic change is possible and a reset of Florida politics can occur. The candidate has set February benchmarks for fundraising and polls as milestones to determine whether he can wage a competitive campaign. 'My job is to build a coalition where I reach independent and disaffected voters. If I build that coalition and demonstrate a viable path to winning then we will have built a coalition that Jason Pizzo and John Morgan, as well as John and Sally Smith down the street, can believe in and we will win,' Jolly said. James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@ and is on X as @CallTallahassee. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: David Jolly joins race for governor – with direct attack on DeSantis
