‘Dramatic effect’ on low-income homeowners

During a March 17 hearing by the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee, Rep. Bob Rommel, a Republican from Naples, announced he decided after meeting with “stakeholders” to remove the controversial proposal from an insurance reform bill he sponsored.

Rommel did not identify the stakeholders, but contractors and plaintiffs attorneys have been outspoken in their opposition to the measure in legislative committee hearings so far this year. Rommel did not respond to requests to discuss his reasons for removing the proposal from his bill.

Democrats in the House and Senate have also voiced opposition to the proposed roof coverage rollback, saying low-income residents in their districts would be devastated by a sudden requirement to come up with thousands of dollars for a new roof.

Sen. Audrey Gibson, who

represents part of Duval County, noted in a Senate Banking and Insurance Committee hearing on March 18 that millions of homeowners in Florida have roofs more than 10 years old. The change would have a “dramatic effect” on older homeowners with roofs that are “hanging by a thread” that they cannot afford to replace, she said.

Sen. Gary Farmer, a Democrat from Fort Lauderdale, predicted that homeowners wouldn’t know about the change, if enacted, until they filed a roof damage claim.

The Miami-Dade County Commission, meanwhile, voted unanimously on March 2 on a resolution urging state lawmakers not to enact the roof replacement reform proposal and directing the county’s lobbyists to oppose it. The proposal, according to the resolution, “may disenfranchise homeowners who have for years been paying their premium by allowing insurance companies to only pay a fraction of the cost to replace the roof, resulting in a substantial decrease in coverage for many homeowners throughout the state.”

But those arguments have so far failed to sway Senate Republicans who have advanced the proposal out of two committee hearings and seemed poised to do the same in a Rules Committee hearing before running out of time on March 18.

Supporters said that to keep home insurance affordable in Florida, homeowners will have to realize the need to replace their roofs when they reach the end of their useful life cycle and save money for that inevitable day. Insurers would still be able to offer full replacement roof coverage as an optional add-on if the proposal is enacted, said Sen. Jim Boyd, a Tampa-area Republican and co-sponsor of the Senate bill.

Burt compared the proposal to auto insurance. “If you crash a 2016 Honda, you don’t get a brand new Honda. You get what a 2016 Honda is worth,” he said.