Jim Boyd to Head Insurance Committee

Todays News

Photo courtesy Florida House of Representatives

Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, was sworn into a freshman Senate term just last month, and now prepares. for his first legislative session in two years. That comes after spending two years as a private citizen after completing a maximum eight consecutive years in the Florida House of Representatives.

As he returns to the Capitol, he said it’s not a remarkably different experience setting up shop in the Florida Senate. Certainly, he anticipates differences down the road as one of 40 Senators in Florida rather than one of 120 Representatives.

“But first and foremost, I’m here to serve the constituents of District 21,” he said. “I remember that every day when I go to work, and will continue that as a senator. I’m available for the needs of the community, and that’s a strong part of why I am excited about this new venture. Good public servants really want to do what it takes to make Florida a better place.”

Already, he’s been appointed as chair of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. Senate President Wilton Simpson announced chairmanships on Wednesday, and tapped the longtime private insurance agent for a role overseeing regulations on the industry.

Boyd said he doesn’t bring an agenda out of the gate. He’s certainly interested in examining the condition of Citizens Property Insurance, the state-managed insurer of last resort in Florida. Boyd still recalls the problems around the agency in 2010 at the height of the Great Recession and the start of Boyd’s state House tenure. Then, the insurer had about 1.5 policies in the state, roughly three times the number that exists today.

But Citizens has gone from under 500,000 policies at the end of August to state estimates expecting more than 600,000 policies next year, as a pandemic-driven economic downturn once again pushes Floridians into economic hardship.

The concept of Citizens remains valuable, Boyd said, but the stat-run entity can’t become over-exposed lest taxpayers be left on the hook. It’s important the policies aren’t priced in a way that competes with private insurance, or that will disrupt the marketplace.

“More domestic companies have problems now, and should anyone fail, then oftentimes Citizens picks up the bulk of business, which adds to volume and exposure,” Boyd said. “My thought on that has always been and will presumably stay that it’s a market of last result, and not a market of choice.”

Photo courtesy Florida House of Representatives

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