Gov. DeSantis opposes repealing Florida’s no-fault auto law. Will his stand stall Legislature’s efforts?

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Gov. Ron DeSantis seems determined to put the brakes on efforts in the Legislature to scrap the state’s no-fault automobile insurance laws, including a requirement for drivers to buy personal injury protection.

The Governor already vetoed one bill to repeal the state’s no-fault system and replace it with a fault-based one instead. Following his State of the State speech Tuesday, DeSantis indicated he has not changed his mind.

“If they have a reform where we can show that it’s going to lower rates, it’s fine. But let’s just be clear. I mean, you know, we know that’s something that people from the legal and the trial bar have wanted to do. And so why would they want to do that? Obviously, they see that there’s opportunities for them to make money off of it,” DeSantis told reporters.

“I think that goes without saying. So, I don’t want to do anything that’s going to raise the rates.”

Republican Sen. Erin Grall of Vero Beach and Rep. Danny Alvarez of Hillsborough County have both filed bills to eliminate the requirement that drivers carry personal injury protection. Instead, the bills require drivers to carry $25,000 in bodily injury coverage for one person and $50,000 for two or more people per incident plus $10,000 in property liability coverage.

Alvarez’s bill (HB 1181) has been referred to three House committees: the Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee; Insurance & Banking Subcommittee; and the Judiciary Committee. Grall’s bill (SB 1256) faces hearings before the Banking and Insurance; Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government; and Rules committees.

Define ‘PIP’

Personal injury protection (PIP) is a type of car insurance that pays medical expenses, lost wages and other costs of drivers and passengers injured in automobile accidents, regardless of who caused the accident.

Florida drivers are required to carry $10,000 in PIP coverage on their insurance policies under Florida’s no-fault automobile insurance system, plus $10,000 in property damage liability coverage. Those are minimum requirements and drivers can, and do, purchase additional coverage.

According to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, just under 6% of the drivers on Florida roads were uninsured as of February.

The state’s no-fault automobile insurance laws ban injured parties from bringing lawsuits against at-fault parties to recover noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering and loss of consortium, although there are some exceptions (if a person suffers a permanent loss of an important bodily function; a permanent injury; a permanent scar or disfigurement; or death).

The Florida Justice Association, representing the trial bar, supports PIP repeal and notes that a Forbes analysis of automobile insurance rates pegs Florida as the most expensive state for car insurance in the nation. To meet the requirements of the law costs an average $1,529 annually.

Lobbying surge

A cadre of insurance lobbyists oppose the repeal, as does Florida Justice Reform Institute President William Large. They argue lawmakers should allow the state’s no-fault laws and PIP to remain in place for at least another three years to ascertain the effect the elimination of one-way attorneys fees will have on rates going forward.

Since 1893, state law allowed policyholders to force carriers to pay any attorneys fees they rack up if forced to sue to enforce claims — hence “one-way” fees. The idea was to counterbalance insurers’ financial and legal clout. In 2023, the Legislature required both parties to pay for their own attorneys fees.

The Legislature agreed in 2021 to repeal the no-fault system and the minimum mandated coverages and return to a fault-based system, but DeSantis vetoed the bill (SB 54). In his veto letter, DeSantis stated at the time that although the “PIP system has flaws,” repeal could bring unintended consequences for the market and the consumer.

House Speaker Daniel Perez, who was Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee at the time, voted for the repeal.

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Christine Sexton reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].