A former state consultant has introduced plans to problem Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis on this fall’s election, and he’s making Florida’s property insurance coverage disaster a central difficulty.
Adam Hattersley, a Democrat of Riverview, close to Tampa, served within the Legislature from 2018 to 2020, when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress. He stated that present CFO Jimmy Patronis, whose workplace oversees the state Workplace of Insurance coverage Regulation, has change into too right-wing and too partisan and has not provided options to Florida’s rising insurance coverage premiums and distressed market.
Floridians “deserve a CFO who will stand as much as insurance coverage corporations. They deserve a CFO who’s client targeted and never consumed by partisan politics,” Hattersley stated on his Fb web page.
Hattersley is the writer of a e-book about his political profession and targets and is a former submarine officer within the U.S. Navy. He is among the few Florida politicians to make the insurance coverage disaster a central a part of the marketing campaign, regardless of the latest insolvency of a serious provider and a gradual enhance in premiums for a lot of householders.
“Proper now property insurance coverage charges are simply going by means of the roof. The CFO’s workplace is meant to be that firewall between Floridians and these predatory insurance coverage charges. And no one has been defending Floridians for the previous 4 or 5 years, that I’ve been capable of see,” Hattersley advised Florida Politics information web site.
The CFO place leads the Division of Monetary Providers, which licenses and investigates adjusters and insurance coverage brokers, and investigates insurance coverage fraud, employees comp fraud, and arson. It additionally handles some proceedings when insurers change into bancrupt, amongst a variety of different duties. DFS homes OIR and the state Division of Staff’ Compensation.
“This (CFO) is a type of positions that folks don’t wish to see loopy radical proper. They don’t need mega-mega-liberal. They simply need somebody to do the job and shield their very own pocketbooks,” Hattersley stated.
The CFO can also be a part of the Monetary Providers Fee, which additionally consists of the governor, legal professional basic and agriculture commissioner, that appoints the state insurance coverage commissioner. The OIR critiques insurance coverage rate-increase requests, and Hattersley didn’t say how the CFO might have an effect on that, in keeping with information reviews and his web site and Fb posts.
Patronis, a former enterprise proprietor, has not provided a complete resolution to the property insurance coverage this 12 months, however he has advocated for a variety of payments within the Legislature that will handle elements of the issue. Payments which have handed key committees this session would enhance penalties on unlicensed public adjusters who violate the regulation, would require insurance coverage companies to inform clients forward of time when an company is to be shut down, would scale back penalties for small companies for employees’ compensation violations, and would enhance tax incentives for dwelling hardening.
Patronis’ workplace additionally stated he has labored for assignment-of-benefits reform in recent times, instituted the licensing of public adjusting companies and pushed for 2 new fraud-fighting models to focus on property insurance coverage fraud.
However Patronis additionally has railed in information releases and public appearances towards President Joe Biden’s efforts on inflation, and in help of Canadian truckers who protested vaccination mandates. He additionally complained on Fox Information in regards to the FDA pulling its approval of a monoclonal antibody remedies for COVID-19, after the drug regulation company discovered little proof that the process was efficient, however that it carried dangers.
Two different Democratic candidates have filed to run for the CFO spot: Tyrone Noel Javellana of Hollywood and Karla Jones of Orlando.
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