Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky (pictured) has expressed strong support for Governor Ron DeSantis’ 2024-2025 “Focus on Florida’s Future” budget, highlighting its benefits for the state’s insurance sector.
“Governor DeSantis’ budget strengthens the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s (OIR) ability to protect consumers and foster a market where insurance products are reliable, available, and affordable for Floridians,” asserted Yaworsky, referring to the budget that is allocating over $237 million to enhance Florida’s residential home mitigation programs.
He went on to note: “OIR is a national leader in identifying market trends and taking bold action because we collect more data about our insurance market than any other state or regulatory entity.
“Expanding our research and data collection capabilities will allow us to better understand the factors impacting our market so that we can make data-driven decisions to ensure Floridians benefit from a stable and competitive insurance market. I thank Governor DeSantis for his leadership and ongoing commitment to Florida's policyholders.”
Elements of the budget also include $1.1 million to enhance OIR’s data collection related to the state’s property insurance market and $675,000 for contracting independent reinsurance and mitigation research experts to improve OIR’s review processes and recommend new tools for hurricane property mitigation.
Meanwhile, $500,000 will go towards examining the impact of substantial improvement periods on community rating system discounts and insurance rates; $475,000 to hiring a reinsurance expert to analyze reinsurance cycles and their effects on property insurance rates; and $200,000 to identifying other mitigation measures offering insurance premium discounts to homeowners.
Additionally, the budget provides a $6 million increase for Florida International University to enhance the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model. The upgrade aims to improve geographic assessments and include previously unconsidered perils.
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