TAMPA, Fla. — With midterm elections less than a month away, the topic of insurance — a top concern for Florida voters — is taking center stage for the candidates for governor.
Republican Byron Donalds held a roundtable on affordability in Tampa Monday at the Associated Builders and Contractors Florida Gulf Coast building. The rountable consisted mostly of business owners in the construction and insurance industries, with few homeowners in attendance.
In fact, the topic of insurance wasn't nearly discussed as much as permitting problems, energy costs and labor shortages that contribute to affordability. But with a recent UNF poll showing voters are more concerned about insurance, we asked a question on behalf of a viewer named Debbie, who asked how Donalds plans to actually bring down insurance premiums.
WATCH: Florida governor candidates lay out plans to lower insurance costs with midterms weeks away
"Tell us how are you planning to lower costs of anything?? Don't just say you're going to do it tell us how," Debbie wrote.
"Number 1, we're going to keep the tort reform of Governor DeSantis in place. Number 2, we are going to reform Florida's regulatory structure," Donalds said.
"There's a 25% surcharge in our fund. We want to get rid of that surcharge," he continued. "We don't need it anymore. It was put in after Hurricane Wilma 20 years ago. We don't need that structure today.
"Number 3, home hardening programs. We want to expand them for citizens," he added. "The citizens insurance population, we have to keep that low, and the fifth post-storm permits should be automatic. You heard it around the table. The longer you wait to permit the job to get rebuilt, the more expensive it is, and that also has an upward trajectory on premiums."
To read more about Donalds' plan, click here.
A few weeks ago, we listened in on Democrat David Jolly's plan to lower insurance premiums. Jolly held a virtual news conference with hurricane survivors.
He has said he wants to take the hurricane and wind risk away from insurance companies and put it onto the State of Florida through a disaster fund. He says this will lower rates up to 70% for homeowners. He also has said he wants to strictly regulate how insurance companies shuffle their profits.
"A billion dollars of profits received by premiums from people like Katie and Britt ship their profits out of state and declare roughly $400 million or more in losses here. Folks, that's corrupt. That's corrupt," Jolly said.
To read more about Jolly's plan to tackle insurance, click here.
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