Wednesday, November 8, 2006 • 12 a.m.
Election Day -- Nov. 7, 2006
Nearly 90 percent of candidates supported by the Realtors Political Action Committee (RPAC) in 103 races won their general election. Download the complete list of RPAC-backed candidates and how they fared in the election.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 • 11 a.m.
Election Day -- Nov. 7, 2006
Which candidates best understand the importance of Florida's real estate industry and the needs of the state's homeowners? Click here for a list of RPAC-supported candidates.
Thursday, September 7 • 2:30 P.M.
Florida 2006 Primary Results
Click here for a list of RPAC-supported candidates who won their state primary race on Sept. 5. Also included are candidates whose races were uncontested.
Friday, September 1 • 2:00 P.M.
April 10-11 in Tallahassee – Be There
Get out that 2007 calendar, and mark these important dates: April 10-11 for the 2007 Great American Realtor Days. Grab a hotel reservation now. You don’t want to miss this all-important two-day Realtor rally at the Capitol. Be seen. Be heard. But most of all, be there.
Thursday, August 31 • 1:03 P.M.
Make Your Vote Count in Florida's Primary Election
Voting is not only our right, it is our responsibility. You have every right to vote your conscience and to support the candidates of your choosing. Please remember to keep the rights of the private property owner and the needs of the real estate industry in mind when you go to the polls.
Members of the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) have been diligently screening candidates on your behalf. Realtors just like you have interviewed these candidates on issues affecting the real estate industry, and have recommended them for election. As you make your final decision, consider voting for the candidates listed here, as well as the local candidates supported by your local boards/associations. Please take this list of recommended candidates to the polls on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006, and cast your vote for those who support Realtor issues.
Friday, August 25 • 2:52 P.M.
Representatives of the insurance industry believe they’ve got a solution to the insurance crisis gripping the state: raise premiums. “We need some freedom, or the primary market needs freedom, in order to cover the long-term financial loss they’re faced with,” Andrew Castaldi, senior vice president for catastrophe perils at the reinsurance company Swiss Re, told the Governor’s Property & Casualty Insurance Reform Committee at a meeting yesterday in Orlando.
Talk of higher premiums and other incentives to attract insurers to the state was contrary to solutions offered during a one-hour public hearing period. Many of the Floridians who testified before the 15-member panel, which includes Frank Kowalski, 2005 FAR President and broker/owner of Metro Dade Realty in Miami and Lee Arnold, CEO of the Arnold Companies (Colliers Arnold Commercial), recommended the state place a moratorium on rate increases, establish an annual cap on rate hikes and require state regulators to factor in the profitability of an insurers’ parent company when ruling on rate hike requests made by a Florida subsidiary.
“It would be easy to say we are going to make a law and tell the insurance companies they can't raise rates,” admitted commission chairperson Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings. “Probably some five minutes after we do that, there will be no insurance companies in the state of Florida."
Presentation materials from last week’s meeting are available at http://snipurl.com/vg5q. Got a solution to offer? Record it by clicking on the “Your Solutions” hyperlink. The committee will meet again Sept. 7 at the Capitol in Tallahassee (Room 212, Knott Building).
August 18 • 11:20 A.M.
Save the date
The second meeting of the Governor’s Property Insurance Reform Committee will take place August 24 at the Orlando Convention Center, Room S320 (South Concourse), from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The 15-member committee, which includes Frank Kowalski, president of Metro-Dade Realty, Inc. in Miami and 2005 President of FAR, will focus on reinsurance and mitigation during this session. The committee has set aside one hour for public comment beginning at 9 a.m.
State kicks off hurricane inspection program
The My Safe Florida Home Program is now accepting applications from Floridians from around the state for a free home inspection by qualified wind-resistance inspectors, who will suggest ways property owners can strengthen their homes against hurricanes.
Who’s eligible: Floridians who own a single-family, site-built home with an insured value less than $500,000 or owners of a home located in a multi-family complex of up to four units. Mobile homes, manufactured homes, second homes, rental properties, apartments and businesses are not eligible. Once you receive a free home inspection and you live in a high-risk area, you will be able to apply for a matching grant of up to $5,000 to do the recommended improvements outlined in your free inspection report.
More info: http://www.mysafefloridahome.com or (800) 342-2762 in Florida or out-of-state (850) 413-3089.
August 18 • 11:00 A.M.
Governor's group reviews Save Our Homes tax break, other issues
Realtors and other members of Gov. Jeb Bush's Property Tax Reform Committee met for the first time Tuesday to discuss ways to deal with property tax inequities resulting from the Save Our Homes amendment approved by voters in 1992.
"We covered the basics in this meeting -- what our charge is, the restrictions on what we can and can't do, and reviewed information from the Florida Department of Revenue and the Florida Association of Counties," says Realtor Cynthia Shelton of Lake Mary, director of investment sales for Colliers Arnold. "We'll be meeting once a month at public meetings to be scheduled around the state. We plan to allow 30 minutes for public comment at each meeting, and we'd really like to hear from people coming forward with possible solutions to some of these issues."
Click here to read more about the meeting.
August 9 • 3:00 P.M.
Insurance crisis: FAR is at the table
"Our charge is to put Citizens out of business and have reasonable rates and availability. So everybody, put your thinking caps on." With that, Lt. Governor Toni Jennings kicked off the first meeting of the governor’s Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee yesterday in Tallahassee. Frank Kowalski, a Miami broker and 2005 FAR President, is one of 15 committee members who will be working on solutions to Florida’s property insurance crisis. Click here for more details.
August 2 • 12:00
Realtors named to insurance, property tax commissions
Gov. Jeb Bush named Frank Kowalski, president of Metro-Dade Realty, Inc. in Miami and 2005 President of FAR, to a 15-member Property Insurance Reform Committee. The group will suggest ways to improve competition and reduce the number of policyholders in Citizen’s Property Insurance Corp.
More info: http://www.flgov.com/prop_ins_committee
The governor also named Cynthia Shelton, director of investment sales at Colliers Arnold and an FAR Director, and Dennis Nelson, a Realtor with The Keyes Company, to his Property Tax Reform Task Force. The group will recommend ways to curtail increases and remove inequities in Florida’s property taxes.
July 12 • 3:00 P.M.
What’s happening with insurance and property tax portability?
It’s the question we get asked most often. Here’s the latest….
Homeowners’ insurance:
- At the urging of FAR President Michael Dooley, Vice President for Public Policy John Sebree and others on the Tallahassee lobbying team, Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to name a property insurance reform committee this month to develop solutions to Florida’s insurance crisis. FAR expects a Realtor will be named to that committee.
- FAR President Michael Dooley travels to London this week to meet with Lloyds of London and other surplus line insurance carriers that might be persuaded to do business in Florida. (A surplus carrier is regulated in the state or country where it is located but not in the state or country where it writes policies. Since these carriers are not strictly regulated by the state, they are generally free from the form or rate regulations imposed on licensed insurers. This gives them freedom to maintain broader internal guidelines for accepting risks. They have more flexibility to design and price their policies and can, therefore, accept risks that licensed insurers will not.) It doesn't appear the private market is eager to re-enter our state and compete with Citizens Property Insurance Corp. — now the largest insurer in the state. Until the insurance market improves in Florida, surplus line carriers may be the best solution to the insurance crisis.
- In late June, FAR’s Office of Public Policy team spent a half day in meetings with the staff of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA). The FAIA team is analyzing insurance models that are working at the federal level to determine if these models can be applied to Florida’s insurance system.
- FAR has taken the lead in encouraging NAR to make property insurance an immediate and top priority in Washington. Florida isn’t the only state dealing with insurers dropping policyholders, increasing rates and limiting coverage. Texas, California, Arizona, Louisiana, North Carolina and others have faced an insurance crisis. NAR hosted a roundtable meeting recently with U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) and U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw (R-FL) that included representatives from FAR, NAR, homebuilders, and insurance and financial services industries. Among the items discussed: proposed natural disaster insurance legislation.
Property tax portability
Faced with a dizzying array of portability bills, legislators bought themselves more time to work through the choices by appropriating $1 million for the Department of Revenue to study the impact of portability on local governments’ ability to raise revenue. Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to announce his appointees to the newly formed Property Tax Reform Committee shortly. FAR has provided the governor’s staff with the names of several Realtors who would be a tremendous asset to the cause. While portability is an important part of the property tax debate, it seems that the debate is starting to shift to property tax reform overall -- including assessments, truth in millage notices and the “Save Our Homes” amendment.
In the meantime, FAR has conducted numerous public forums and "idea-raisers" with legislators around the state to get Realtor and public feedback into the property-tax debate. The next meeting will be July 25 from 9-11 a.m. at the Broward County Main Library (100 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 954-357-7444). Contact Trey Price in FAR’s Public Policy Office at 850-224-1400 for more information on these forums.
Tag, you’re it!
FAR President Mike Dooley, FAR lobbyists and Rep. Chris Smith (D-Fort Lauderdale), House sponosor of FAR’s specialty license plate legislation (HB 1589) joined Governor Jeb Bush for the bill signing ceremony recently. FAR expects its “Support Homeownership For All” license plate to be available for purchase next January. Cost: $25 plus a $2 processing fee (required by the state). Proceeds from the sale of the plate will go toward downpayment assistance and other workforce housing programs.
