Relief for Florida insurers as SB 832 dies

By Chris Munro

May 5 - (The Insurer) - Florida’s insurers have been boosted after the controversial Senate Bill 832 died after the proposed ruling was not included in the 16 that the state’s lawmakers will discuss during the extended 2025 regular legislative session.

As The Insurer reported on Friday, the future of SB 832 was in the balance as the state’s 2025 legislative session neared its scheduled conclusion at the end of last week, although there was an acceptance the deadline may be extended.

That has turned out to be the case, with the 2025 legislative session now pushed back to June 6.

But the extended session will only focus on 16 bills, and SB 832 is not one of them.

Talking to The Insurer on Monday after the bill died late Friday, Michael Carlson, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida (PIFF), said his organization is “grateful that the Senate chose to defend the reforms that were passed in 2023.”

“These reforms are having a positive impact on the insurance markets, to the benefit of consumers,” he stated.

Previously, this publication reported that on April 25 during the 53rd day of the legislative session, the Florida House substituted a measure aimed at tort reform by amending SB 832, a bill initially crafted to offer legal protections to phosphate mining companies.

The amendment included a provision that would award attorney's fees to the prevailing party in insurance litigation. That amended bill was passed by the House in an 80-20 vote.

Critics of the amended bill included PIFF’s Carlson, who warned the proposed legislation would be “absolutely detrimental” to consumers if passed.

“Fundamentally, Senate Bill 832 will create a new one-way attorney fee-shifting law in the state of Florida. It does that by setting up a process where an insurer defendant can make a settlement offer, and that offer becomes the benchmark to determine who wins," he told The Insurer in late April.

“It’s a very, very adverse provision. It won’t just undo the good reforms passed in 2022 and 2023, it will upend the markets,” he declared.

“Rates will go up. Costs will go up. Lawyers will make a lot of money, and consumers will pay more,” Carlson added.