TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida’s property insurance market was in freefall in 2006 after a series of hurricanes. Premiums were rising. Insurers were going out of business or threatening to leave the state.
In response, a group of St. Petersburg businessmen and lawyers came up with a sweeping solution: Have the state offer hurricane insurance. Let private insurers offer everything else.
Armed with data and political connections, group members flew private planes to Tallahassee on repeated trips to meet with then-Gov. Charlie Crist, lawmakers and the state’s insurance regulator.
