Florida’s property insurance crisis has become a major fault line in the governor’s race, with Democrat David Jolly and Republican Byron Donalds offering sharply different solutions. Jolly favors a state-backed catastrophe fund to remove hurricane and wind coverage from private insurers, while Donalds argues the approach would shift costs and risk to taxpayers.
Key takeaways
- Jolly says a state catastrophe fund could cut homeowners’ insurance costs by 60% to 70%.
- Donalds attacks the proposal as a potential $1,000 “hurricane tax,” a claim Jolly calls false.
- Donalds’ plan focuses on insurer oversight, grants, legal reforms and changes to the state catastrophe fund.
- A Florida State University study cited by Donalds examined a different proposal involving Citizens Property Insurance.
The dispute reflects a broader debate over whether Florida should expand the government’s role in managing hurricane risk or continue relying primarily on private insurers and market reforms.
Jolly’s proposed catastrophe fund
Jolly has proposed creating a state-backed catastrophic insurance fund that would assume hurricane and wind coverage currently sold through private insurers. He says the arrangement could substantially reduce premiums by taking the most severe risks out of the private market.
Jolly says the fund could be financed by requiring insurers to pay taxes they currently avoid, along with potentially using documentary stamp revenue from real estate transactions and existing tourist development taxes. He has not released a detailed plan, however, and says those funding sources remain under consideration.
He also points to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, created after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, as evidence that the state already participates in hurricane-risk financing. Jolly argues the existing fund primarily reimburses insurers and functions as a bailout rather than directly lowering homeowners’ costs.
Donalds challenges the cost and risk
Donalds says Jolly’s proposal would amount to a government takeover and could expose Florida families to new assessments if catastrophic losses overwhelmed the state fund. His campaign has cited an FSU study that found premiums could rise between 21% and 139% under a plan that made Citizens available to all homeowners for wind coverage.
That study, however, examined a proposal different from Jolly’s. The earlier plan would have expanded Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed insurer of last resort, while Jolly’s concept would place hurricane and wind coverage in a separate state-controlled fund.
Donalds also argues that tourist development taxes are controlled locally and would not generate enough revenue to support Jolly’s approach. He compares the proposal to other government-run programs that, in his view, have produced higher costs and less reliable coverage.
Donalds’ “Bring Down the Bill” plan
Donalds has unveiled a package centered on market oversight and incremental reforms rather than a new statewide insurance system. Its provisions include:
- Reducing policyholder surcharges tied to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund when the fund is financially strong.
- Preserving recent legal changes that supporters say have reduced insurance litigation and insurers’ costs.
- Coordinating state grant programs to prioritize projects with the greatest benefit for homeowners.
- Creating an insurer scorecard showing prices, claims approvals and denials, and payment times.
- Continuing efforts to reduce enrollment in Citizens as private coverage becomes available.
Donalds says the plan would build on reforms enacted in 2022 and 2023. Jolly counters that transparency and existing policies will not directly address the high premiums facing homeowners.
A wider debate over Citizens
The disagreement is partly rooted in a separate proposal to allow all Florida homeowners to purchase wind coverage through Citizens. Supporters say public financing could improve stability and reduce private-market pressure, while critics warn of concentrated risk, reduced competition and potentially large statewide assessments.
Both candidates are therefore presenting the insurance crisis as a choice between government-backed risk sharing and continued private-market reforms. With hurricane exposure, litigation and insurer withdrawals still affecting Florida homeowners, the debate is likely to remain central to the campaign.
Sources
- Jolly and Donalds clash on how to fix Florida’s property insurance crisis, Creative Loafing Tampa.