Nonprofit Groups Urge Citizens Board to Proceed with Low-Interest Loan Program
Contact: Carrie Thompson
(850) 222-3767
carrie@coremessage.com
NONPROFIT GROUPS URGE CITIZENS BOARD TO PROCEED WITH LOW-INTEREST LOAN PROGRAM
~Program has potential to eliminate future hurricane taxes~
Tallahassee, Fla. – In the wake of yesterday’s decision to postpone action on Citizens Property Insurance Corp. $350 million low-interest loan program, non-profit groups are supporting Citizens adoption of this plan in December. This low-interest loan program would relieve Citizens of approximately 300,000 policies and reduce future hurricane tax assessments by an estimated $1.2 billion.
Jay Liles, Policy Consultant, Florida Wildlife Foundation
“The Florida Wildlife Federation applauds the Citizens Insurance Board of Directors for their willingness to think outside-the-box. Offering a low-interest loan program will work to reduce the state’s exposure to catastrophic loss and help balance the insurance pool, placing more of the risk with private carriers. Ultimately, the Citizens Board must address policies that subsidize development in low-lying, flood prone areas that should not be developed in the first place. At the very least, Citizens should stop insuring new development in these risky areas and should move to price existing coverage to better reflect the actual risk.”
Christian Camara, State Director, R Street Institute
“The proposal under consideration by the Citizens Board is by no means a perfect solution, much less a final one. Unlike previous plans, this one has safeguards that greatly reduce the chances that these policies would go back into Citizens. This, in turn, reduces Citizens’ overall exposure and the massive risk it poses to taxpayers. Ultimately, it is a good initial plan to unload policies into the private market; however, it must be followed-up with reforms by the Legislature that address rate and eligibility requirements to reduce the current influx of new policies into Citizens. Otherwise, we’ll be back to square one.”
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