Last week, the state's largest insurer announced it was disbanding its corporate integrity office until charged with keeping an eye on expenses. Today, two advocacy groups and State Sen. Mike Fasano asked Gov. Rick Scott to re-establish the office at state-run Citizens Property Insurance.
They also want Florida's chief inspector general to investigate what led to the firing of four people after they were asked to sign confidentiality agreements
Fasano wants Gov. Scott to intervene. He said, “I think if nothing else, enough pressure has to be put on Citizens - especially by our Cabinet and especially by our Governor - to tell them to stop doing what they are doing. Governor Scott came into office with an agenda of openness and transparency. What they are doing right now with Citizens is anything but…I am in fact sending a letter to Rick Scott, Governor Scott, this morning, we're sending [it] out to him, telling him that we have great concerns and this needs to be looked at…Citizens, for some reason, thinks it has this exclusivity of being able to take these type of actions without input from a legislative body or elected officials that created this body. And they do it in between sessions because they can get away with it. I certainly hope that when session comes around, they're ready to answer a lot of questions that will be coming forward.”
Citizens' is the state's largest property insurer with 1.4 million customers and is trying to dramatically reduce its customer base to improve its ability to meet claims obligations in the wake of a catastrophic hurricane or series of costly storms.