Governor highlights growing market affordability
Citizens Property Insurance is ordered to lower its 2026 rates even further, as the insurance commissioner and Governor tout growing affordability in Florida’s property insurance market; a new report shows claims lawsuits and costs continue to decline; Florida regulators launch their annual claims and litigation data call; plus a call to attend OIR’s April insurance summit. It’s all in this week’s Property Insurance News.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky at Governor’s News Conference, January 12, 2026. Courtesy, The Florida Channel
Citizens Rate Cut: For the second year in a row, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has ordered the state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corporation to provide deeper rate cuts than originally proposed. Citizens requested an average 2.6% decrease in personal lines policies. At the time, Citizens said another mid-year 2026 decrease might be possible, depending on reinsurance and other costs. Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky, at a news conference last week with Governor DeSantis and CFO Ingoglia, announced that deeper rate reductions are possible now, ordering an average 8.7% decrease. “We feel confident as we go forward that these rates are in fact actuarially sound, this is the correct number to have and Citizens will remain well-capitalized and able to take on future risks that are associated with it for those policyholders,” Yaworsky said.
DeSantis called Citizens’ proposed decrease “milquetoast,” given that its 2025 year-end policy count was 395,144, down from 1.26 million in September 2024, achieved through depopulation to the private market. “I think Mike really went in with his team and said, ‘OK, they (Citizens) have lost almost a million policies. They were getting all those premiums for all those policies, now their exposure is less,’” DeSantis said. “You’re seeing in these three counties (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach) much less litigation abuse than you had seen previously.” The Governor’s press release has more details. It remains to be seen if there are going to be unintended consequences from this deeper rate cut. Our firm was asked to do a deep dive on Citizens and we’re happy to share it with you here.
Governor DeSantis at the property insurance news conference, January 12, 2026. Courtesy, The Florida Channel
Florida’s Stabilizing Market: Governor DeSantis used the news conference, held on the eve of the 2026 legislative session, to tout that Florida’s insurance consumer and litigation reforms of 2019-2023 are delivering results: a stabilized market, with lowering rates. “Floridians are seeing rate reductions in both auto and homeowners insurance across the state, with additional relief coming soon. Premiums are lowering because we’ve enacted real reforms and withstood the pressure to reverse course. We will hold firm in our commitment not to go back to the broken insurance market of the past,” said the Governor. He specifically credited the end of Assignment of Benefits (AOB) contracts between homeowners and repair vendors, and the end of one-way attorney fees for plaintiff lawyers for a reduction in litigation and easing rate pressure. You can read more in our LMA report here.
Data Backing the Facts: Much of the data used in the news conference came from OIR’s latest Property Insurance Stability Report, published twice a year by OIR. It chronicles a continued decline in insurance litigation and associated costs, declining rates, speedier claims resolution, a respite from rising reinsurance costs, new carriers entering the market, and a return to insurance companies’ profitability and stability. The number of claims lawsuits, as represented by Personal Residential Legal Service of Process (LSOP) filings, continues to decline from 2021. It dropped 26% in the first 11 months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024 (following a 23% drop in 2024 from 2023). Notice of Intent to Litigate (NOITL) and Civil Remedy Notices likewise continued to decline in 2025. A total of 14 companies are subject to enhanced OIR monitoring for financial stability, down from 17 companies in the July 2025 report.
Data Call: OIR’s Property Claims and Litigation Data Call, performed each January, is specific to Florida and tracks the entire life cycle of a claim. Collecting data related to the life cycle of a claim assists OIR in detecting and resolving any emerging issues in the claims experience process. OIR has released this month’s data call to insurance companies, with data to be reported back by March 2. OIR has also issued a voluntary request for additional information on insurance companies’ ability to report legislatively-mandated attorney fees, claimant attorney fees, and contingency risk multipliers, with responses requested by January 30 on this two-sheet spreadsheet. We encourage our companies to report what we all know: no plaintiff lawyers are giving us their attorney fees data.
OIR Insurance Summit: Registration is now open for the 2026 OIR Insurance Summit to be held on April 15-16 in Tallahassee. “Our agenda is packed with knowledge and tips from regulators about data calls, complying with emergency orders, the essentials of financial reporting and more as well as national perspectives from other top regulators and experts on artificial intelligence,” said Commissioner Yaworsky in a release. “This is an opportunity you will not want to miss. I encourage interested participants to register early, as spots will fill up quickly.” We spoke to the commissioner who is encouraging technical staff of insurance companies to attend.
LMA Newsletter of 1-20-26
