TALHASSEE – As Florida’s insurance crisis unfolded in 2020, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has released some detailed information to the public about the failed insurers.
The law he promoted that year produced information on risk assessments that exempt executive compensation, corporate governance, and public records requests when businesses went out of business and were taken over by state regulators.
Now, lawmakers want to bring that information back into the sun.
In a rare move, the House committee on Tuesday moved forward with a bill repealing some of these public records exemptions. The results could shed more light on why and how businesses go out of business.
Assessment of insurance companies’ risk and solvency – a mandatory report created after the 2008 financial crisis that insurers use to determine financial weaknesses – could be used for public inspections.
So does their underwriting files, along with the names, benefits and compensation of executive officers.
Rep. Linda Cheney, r-st. Pete Beach said her committee had narrowed the exemptions down due to concerns about “insurance market integrity.”
“For me, it’s important that the government is transparent and that the public has access to the information they need,” Cheney said.
It is not clear why these records were kept secret from the start. They were pushed into HB 1409 and passed in 2020 as Florida insurance companies were in an increasingly unstable position.
It was pitched as a consumer-friendly law. Most of the bills focused on waiving consumer claim data from public record requests. The information was not publicly available to already active companies, but not explicitly exempt from failed companies.
Insurance companies often receive thousands of unpaid claims when they go out of business.
The bill also kept all employee files of the failed company secret.
“If this bill doesn’t pass, that information disclosure — that personal disclosure could lead to theft and fraud,” Michael Grant of R-Port Charlotte told the House Committee at the time, but he did not give an example of the incident.
The 2020 law set sail through the committee without question. The only MP to vote against it was Sen. Joe Gruters of R-Sarasota.
He said in a text message Tuesday that Floridians are usually staying with the bills of outstanding claims from failed businesses, while he said he is proud to be the only “no” vote.
“Sunshine is the best policy. They would never have passed that bill in the first place,” Gluters said. “There’s no reason to protect those who left taxpayers on the hook.”
Under the bill that went on Tuesday, employee files, except for executive files, remain confidential, just like policyholder personal information.
Patronis’ offices are responsible for taking over the insolvency business. Spokesman Devin Galletta said he supports the House bill.
“The CFO supports policyholder crucial public records exemptions for personal information, but we support Congress in revoking the exemptions for executive-level payroll information for insurance companies,” Galletta said in a statement.
The 2020 bill was sponsored by President Ben Albritton, now Senate President, with R-Wauchula. Consumer protection at the time was and still is, spokesman Katie Betta.
The Senate has its own bill that will fully update record exemptions.
“The president would like to consider narrowing down the exemptions as the bill moves forward,” Betta wrote.
