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WFIT's Local News Update AM

Citizens Rate Hikes Remain Unresolved

 Proposed rate increases that could have taken effect January 1st for customers of the state’s Citizens Property Insurance remain unresolved — with any hikes now unlikely to hit customers’ bills for months.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has not ruled on the proposal, which the Citizens Board of Governors approved in June.

The proposal could lead to an average 13.5 percent rate increase for the most-common type of Citizens policy.

During a presentation Tuesday to the Senate committee, Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said the industry, including Citizens, emerged financially sound from the state getting hit by three hurricanes in 2024.

Yaworsky credits far-reaching insurance changes that lawmakers approved in 2022 amid widespread financial problems in the industry.

“Things are going pretty well. We are seeing improvement. The peak of the crisis was in 2022, and post many of the reforms that have taken place, we are seeing that stability has emerged throughout the marketplace.”

Yaworsky says if hurricanes Helene and Milton had hit before the changes, the state likely would have seen insolvencies among carriers.

 Candidates invest six-figure amounts into upcoming Florida House race.

 Candidates in a soon-to-be-vacant Florida House of Representatives seat in Brevard County have put a total of $550,000 of their own money into the campaign. WFIT’s Rick Glasby has details:

 Four Republicans have announced their candidacies for the District 32 seat. Just-released campaign financing reports to the Florida Division of Elections show three of them have put $100,000 to $250,000 apiece into their campaign. The candidates are Dr. Terrence Cronin, a Melbourne dermatologist, Brian Hodgers of Viera, and Matt Susin is a member of the Brevard School Board who lives in Suntree. So far, no date has been set for the House District 32 special election.

 
Florida manatees won't be listed as an endangered species

 The proposed ruling from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came after several Florida environmental groups submitted a petition to upgrade the status of manatees.

One of those is the Center for Biological Diversity. Staff attorney Ragan Whitlock says their petition was in response to the deaths of more than a thousand manatees in twenty-one. Most came from pollution killing sea grasses they feed on in the Indian River Lagoon. Florida manatees had been taken off the endangered list four years earlier.

“ When a species is downgraded, it simply gets put on the back burner, and relisting it as endangered could potentially result in more funding from our legislature, more attention from our federal agencies, and more efforts to make sure that they get put back on the path to recovery faster.”

A public hearing on the rule will be held on February twenty-sixth.

John Morgan blames Governor for marijuana amendment failure

John Morgan, a prominent marijuana advocate, attributes the failure of November's recreational marijuana ballot amendment to Gov. Ron DeSantis and the public funds his administration used to oppose it. The pro-amendment campaign estimated that approximately $50 million was spent by the DeSantis administration on ads seemingly targeting the measure.

The proposed Amendment 3, which required at least 60% voter approval to pass, fell short with around 56% support. Advocates now hope the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who endorsed Amendment 3, will ease regulatory challenges in the medical marijuana industry or potentially move toward federal legalization.

More:www.floridatoday.com 

Terri Wright held the position of General Manager at WFIT from 1998-2023.