NEW: Florida's insurance companies have been requesting rate hikes just below 15% — avoiding public hearings.

Out of 134 rate requests since 2022, the most common was 14.9%.

Florida regulators are now saying: No more games.

tampabay.com/news/florida-p… What some insurers have been doing is filing multiple rate hikes in a year, both below the 15% requiring a public hearing.

People’s Trust Insurance Co., for example, filed both a 14.8% hike and a 14.4% hike.

For people renewing with that company, they'd face a 29% increase.

My latest story on Florida's insurance crisis examines a major claim by insurers and regulators:

Are frivolous lawsuits really to blame for 📈premiums and company insolvencies?

The answer is that no one knows. Here's why:

🧵

tampabay.com/news/florida-p… Lawmakers and insurers claim lawsuits are the cause of Floridians' problems because there are so many lawsuits.

Florida DOES have a lot of lawsuits against insurers.

But how many of those are frivolous, instead of homeowners with real (or perceived) issues with their insurer?

NEW: DeSantis wanted veterans for the new State Guard.

But during training, a number of them quit, claiming it was too much like a militia.

One retired Marine captain called police on the National Guard trainers, claiming abuse.

w/@emro_, @anaceballos_:
tampabay.com/news/florida-p… The former Marine officer said he was manhandled by National Guard trainers after asking questions of the Lt Col leading the training.

A former head of the Army's Drill Sergeant School said the trainers were "in the wrong."

"You never, ever touch a soldier," she said. "Ever."

NEW: In 2017, America's highest-paid property insurance executive wasn't at Allstate, Travelers or Progressive.

It was at a comparatively tiny Florida insurer.

🧵

tampabay.com/news/florida-p… During Florida's storm-free years ('05-17), insurance companies were highly profitable.

Some executives made very good money. In '15, the CEO of Heritage made $27.3 million in total compensation — twice as much as the CEO of State Farm.

NEW: Police body cameras captured footage of some of @GovRonDeSantis' voter fraud arrests.

Those arrested were confused. The local officers arresting them were almost apologetic:

"I’ve never seen these charges before in my entire life."

tampabay.com/news/florida-p… VIDEO HERE:

There's high drama breaking in Florida's property insurance world:

@FLOIR_comm and @JimmyPatronis declared war on the agency that rates domestic insurers, called Demotech.

Demotech apparently threatened to downgrade 17 insurers, which would wreak havoc for homeowners.

THREAD: This would be a serious problem. If the companies are downgraded, their homeowners policies are worthless.

Fannie/Freddie requires mortgages be insured, and Demotech is the only company that rates Florida's domestic insurers.

So their ratings are key.

More sad news for Jefferson County, the only school district in Florida to be privatized.

Only 19% of its third graders passed the state's reading test this year — by far the worst in the state.

Last year it was 28%, also the worst. Statewide, the average pass rate was 53%.

These tests are important because they're used as a marker for possibly repeating the grade.

NEW w/@anaceballos_:

@GovRonDeSantis' Department of Education tried to steer a multimillion-dollar contract to a company led by a former GOP lawmaker.

THREAD 👇

tampabay.com/news/education… The company was MGT consulting, led by former state Rep. Trey Traviesa.

DOE officials:
- were meeting with MGT prior to opening bids
- used a proposed MGT contract as the basis for the RFQ
- told people that MGT was getting the job

This was all before bidding was closed.

.@GovRonDeSantis' coronavirus messaging — by all of his agencies — has been bizarre.

Basic questions go unanswered. Decisions that affect millions of people aren't announced. And when they are announced, there is often no written clarification.

https://twitter.com/zacjanderson/status/1276590486887825410

That's what all of the pro- and anti-DeSantis articles by national outlets have missed.

They haven't been here to witness all of the confusion over DeSantis' actions, which in most cases is entirely preventable.

Announce a major order? Issue a Q&A. Change data? Say so and why.

Amendment 4 developments today:

Three 11th Circuit Court judges had *tough* questions for @GovRonDeSantis’ lawyers today about the Legislature’s Amendment 4 bill.

“Isn’t it punitive to say, ‘I will reinfranchise this group, but not reinfranchise this group?’” one judge asked. Another judge compared noted that felons could receive the exact same punishment for the exact same crime. Yet one could be disenfranchised because they couldn’t afford to pay their court fees:

“It’s precisely the same situation, except for punishment on the basis of poverty.”

I'm live-tweeting the debate in the Florida Legislature on gun reforms, including arming teachers. Stay with this thread. Sen. Audrey Gibson notes that the arming teachers proposal is based on the @PolkCoSheriff's program - which is only used by one private university in that county, but no public schools.