With the 2016 Session coming to a close, the Florida legislature has failed to pass a meaningful solution to the assignment of benefits (AOB) crisis that is now rapidly spinning out of control. Organized and carried out by a handful of vendors and lawyers, this kickback-driven lawsuit-for-profit scheme is already punishing homeowners with higher rates, and threatens to do so for years to come.

As described in a recent news release from Citizens, water losses in South Florida will drive up rates in the region by (the maximum) 10 percent annually for many years. In Miami-Dade County alone, Citizens projects a preliminary 2017 rate increase of 189.6%. (By law, Citizens cannot raise its rates more than 10% per year.)

Legislation originally filed by state Sen. Dorothy Hukill (SB 596) and Rep. Matt Caldwell (HB 1097) would have protected consumers by preventing a handful of vendors and their lawyers from stealing homeowners’ insurance policy rights and using them to pad their own pockets. Sadly, these bills died as a result of Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, not allowing SB 595 to be considered. He, in turn, sponsored SB 1248, that he described as a “compromise measure.” As Sen. Hukill indicated it was nothing of the sort, stating “nibbling around the edges” of this problem was not going to do anything to help. What’s worse, rather than fighting the problem, Sen. Diaz de la Portilla’s bill would have cemented AOB abuse into place, preventing any further attempts to stop this abusive practice.

It is important to note, of the more than 85,000 lawyers admitted to The Florida Bar, and the nearly 6,000 trial lawyers, 40% of all assignment of benefits lawsuits involving restoration vendors in 2015 were filed by just five law firms and 57% were filed by 10 law firms. In total, 85% of these suits were filed by only 31 law firms.

Now, as a result, even without a hurricane making landfall, property insurance rates are set to skyrocket for all Floridians while a small group of greedy vendors and their lawyers get rich. Florida deserves better.