William W. Large

Scott, this argument ignores both the data and basic economics. Start with Citizens. It peaked at about 1.41 million policies in 2023. Today it’s roughly 330,000 to 360,000. That’s a 75 percent shift. Markets do not move like that unless private capital is returning and taking risk. Since the reforms, about 15 new insurers have entered Florida with more than $500 million in new surplus. That is new capacity, competition, and exactly what we said the market needed. Litigation is down materially, on the order of 40 to 60 percent depending on the dataset. That was one of the core cost drivers, and it is finally moving in the right direction. The radical thing the legislature implemented was joining 49 other states that require everyone to pay their own attorneys fees. Shocking! Now add the piece people keep ignoring: 2024 was an active hurricane year for Florida, with multiple landfalls driving significant claims. Then 2025 had no landfalls, giving the market a rare chance to stabilize. That matters and I why we didn’t see this change in earlier 2025. In addition, Replacement costs for Florida homes jumped roughly 30 to 40 percent from 2022 to 2026, driven by inflation, labor shortages, and higher material costs, tariffs, and that increase is now flattening but not reversing. Florida still faces the fact that it gets hit 1.8x per year by a named storm. You cannot have all of those inputs moving up and expect premiums to instantly fall. That is not how insurance works. That is not how math works. What the reforms did was stop the spiral. Reinsurance which is 40% of premium is easing. New carriers have entered the market. Citizens shrunk rapidly. Rate filings are flattening and, in many cases, coming down. This crisis was built over more than five years. The reforms are not even three years old. You don’t walk five years into the jungle and expect to change course and be out in two. But for the first time in years, we are actually moving in the right direction. Perfect no, progress absolutely

Due to Florida’s legislative reforms, State Farm has announced a major dividend that will yield FL policyholders an average savings of $173 per vehicle on auto insurance. This is on the heels of rebates and/or rate decreases by Progressive, USAA and AAA — all due to the FL reforms.