{"id":17291,"date":"2025-10-23T14:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/17291\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:14:07","slug":"governor-warns-against-changing-auto-homeowners-insurance-laws-in-2026-tallahassee-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/17291\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Warns Against Changing Auto, Homeowners Insurance Laws in 2026 \u2013 Tallahassee Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix<\/a><\/p>\n

Ahead of the 2026 legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis trumpeted Florida\u2019s property and automobile insurance laws and warned members of the House of Representatives against trying to change them when the Legislature convenes in regular session in January.<\/p>\n

During a news conference in Sarasota Wednesday, DeSantis said auto insurance premiums have decreased this year, on average, by 6.5%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing rates go down in the auto space at a pace we have not seen in decades, and that is directly attributable to the litigation reforms,\u201d Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. announced in its\u00a0Third Quarter SEC filing<\/a>\u00a0that in early 2026 it will return $950 million in excess profits to its estimated 2.7 million policyholders in Florida, citing\u00a0statutory profit limits<\/a>\u00a0on auto insurers.<\/p>\n

Lobbyists and onlookers have speculated that there will be another attempt to eliminate the state\u2019s personal injury protection requirements (PIP) while Miami Republican Rep. Daniel Perez, an attorney, remains speaker of the House.<\/p>\n

The Legislature in 2021 voted to repeal the state\u2019s PIP requirements and return to a fault-based system, instead. DeSantis vetoed that bill (SB 54<\/a>),\u00a0acknowledging<\/a>\u00a0that although the \u201cPIP system has flaws,\u201d repeal could bring unintended consequences for the market and the consumer.<\/p>\n

According to a\u00a0USA Facts<\/a>\u00a0analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, auto insurance in the U.S. as of 2024 had risen by 53.7% since 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida has had kind of a difficult history of this over the years,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cPart of it\u2019s demographics, part of it\u2019s driving ability and problems on the roads, but part of it was the legal environment, where Florida was considered a litigation hellhole by a lot of folks, and that contributed to consumers having to bear more cost with respect to auto insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coming session, based on DeSantis\u2019 warnings to the House, could prove as bumpy or bumpier than last session, when lawmakers extended the proceedings after disagreeing on major policy issues.<\/p>\n

Not mentioning members of the House of Representatives, Yaworsky called Senate President Ben Albritton, former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, and incoming Senate President Jim Boyd \u201csteadfast defenders of the reforms that now Floridians are seeing the benefit of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that we can move the ball forward on things that will meaningfully add value to the consumers in the state and move past this trial bar issue that exists among bad-acting attorneys in this space,\u201d Yaworsky said. \u201cThat billion dollars, much of it that is now going into the pockets of consumers, would have been going to those attorneys\u2019 wallets, and that is the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t only the automobile insurance market that DeSantis touted, with the governor pointing out that\u00a0Florida Peninsula Insurance requested an 8.4% reduction in rates for homeowners premiums.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeSantis derided the House\u2019s attempt earlier this year to reverse sweeping insurance changes made in 2022 and 2023. The Senate, however, had no interest in revisiting the changes that DeSantis said were being pushed on behalf of the state\u2019s trial attorneys. DeSantis called the 2025 House legislation \u201cvery misguided.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand there\u2019s lawyers who want that, I get that, but you didn\u2019t get elected to represent lawyers, you got elected to represent your constituents,\u201d DeSantis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeSantis derided the House further Wednesday, invoking the\u00a0special session<\/a>\u00a0on immigration in which the House and Senate bucked the governor\u2019s special session.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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