A former state representative has announced plans to challenge Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis in this fall’s election, and he’s making Florida’s property insurance crisis a central issue.
Adam Hattersley, a Democrat of Riverview, near Tampa, served in the Legislature from 2018 to 2020, when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress. He said that current CFO Jimmy Patronis, whose office oversees the state Office of Insurance Regulation, has become too right-wing and too partisan and has not offered solutions to Florida’s rising insurance premiums and distressed market.
Floridians “deserve a CFO who will stand up to insurance companies. They deserve a CFO who is consumer focused and not consumed by partisan politics,” Hattersley said on his Facebook page.
Hattersley is the author of a book about his political career and goals and is a former submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. He is one of the few Florida politicians to make the insurance crisis a central part of the campaign, despite the recent insolvency of a major carrier and a steady increase in premiums for many homeowners.
“Right now property insurance rates are just going through the roof. The CFO’s office is supposed to be that firewall between Floridians and these predatory insurance rates. And nobody has been protecting Floridians for the past four or five years, that I’ve been able to see,” Hattersley told Florida Politics news site.
The CFO position leads the Department of Financial Services, which licenses and investigates adjusters and insurance agents, and investigates insurance fraud, workers comp fraud, and arson. It also handles some proceedings when insurers become insolvent, among a range of other duties. DFS houses OIR and the state Division of Workers’ Compensation.
“This (CFO) is one of those positions that people don’t want to see crazy radical right. They don’t want mega-mega-liberal. They just want someone to do the job and protect their own pocketbooks,” Hattersley said.
The CFO is also part of the Financial Services Commission, which also includes the governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner, that appoints the state insurance commissioner. The OIR reviews insurance rate-increase requests, and Hattersley did not say how the CFO could affect that, according to news reports and his website and Facebook posts.
Patronis, a former business owner, has not offered a comprehensive solution to the property insurance this year, but he has advocated for a number of bills in the Legislature that would address parts of the problem. Bills that have passed key committees this session would increase penalties on unlicensed public adjusters who violate the law, would require insurance agencies to notify customers ahead of time when an agency is to be shut down, would reduce penalties for small businesses for workers’ compensation violations, and would improve tax incentives for home hardening.
Patronis’ office also said he has worked for assignment-of-benefits reform in recent years, instituted the licensing of public adjusting firms and pushed for two new fraud-fighting units to target property insurance fraud.
But Patronis also has railed in news releases and public appearances against President Joe Biden’s efforts on inflation, and in support of Canadian truckers who protested vaccination mandates. He also complained on Fox News about the FDA pulling its approval of a monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19, after the drug regulation agency found little evidence that the procedure was effective, but that it carried risks.
Two other Democratic candidates have filed to run for the CFO spot: Tyrone Noel Javellana of Hollywood and Karla Jones of Orlando.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Farmers Adjusters Cry Foul Over Workloads, Claims Handling in Letter to Regulators 
Coverage Needed: Hundreds of Thousands in SE Now in Flood Zones With New Maps 
US Judge Skeptical of Biden Overtime Pay Rule 
As Rates Rise, Majority of Homeowners Say Insurance Industry Is in Crisis: Survey 
