Florida

DeSantis signs property insurance and condominium reforms into law

WUSF | By Associated Press

Published May 27, 2022 at 8:00 AM EDT

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses a joint session of a legislative session, Jan. 11, 2022, in Tallahassee. DeSantis has vowed, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022, to fight a decision from federal health regulators to block two coronavirus antibody treatments after the drugs were found to be ineffective against treating the widespread omicron variant.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on two bills Thursday that the Florida Legislature drafted during its special session this week.

DeSantis signed into a law sweeping property insurance legislation that creates a $2 billion reinsurance fund and rewrites rules on coverage denials and attorney fees in a move to stabilize rising costs and insurer losses.

He also signed into law a measure that will require statewide recertification of condominiums over three stories tall.

DeSantis announced the bill signings in a statement Thursday that called the package “the most significant reforms to Florida’s homeowners insurance market in a generation.”

DeSantis signed the bill as a response to the Surfside building collapse that killed 98 people.

Recertification will be required after 30 years, or 25 years if the building is within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the coast, and every 10 years thereafter. The Champlain Towers South was 40 years old and was going through the 40-year-recertification process required by Miami-Dade County when it collapsed last June.

The governor’s signature came the day after the House unanimously passed the bill during a special session originally called to address skyrocketing property insurance rates.

The signings mark an end to a special legislative session on insurance where lawmakers in the GOP-controlled statehouse approved the broad measures in three days, with little public input or expert analysis.