Jesse Scheckner
A push this year to repeal the Sunshine State’s no-fault auto insurance policy and replace it with a fault-based model ran out of road after the legislation failed to gain traction in both chambers.
The House proposal (HB 1181) by Republican Reps. Danny Alvarez and Meg Weinberger aimed at kicking Florida’s existing personal injury protection (PIP) to the curb cleared two of three committees to which it was referred.
It also drew more than 100 motorcyclists in late March to the Capitol, where they wore shirts that read “Trump Bikers” and “Insurance Reform” to support the measure.
Joshua Lipton, a personal injury lawyer from the Tampa Bay area, noted that PIP applies only to vehicles with four or more wheels, thereby excluding bikers and putting them at financial risk disproportionate to their car-driving counterparts.
Alvarez said the change would bring about more parity and cut costs. Opponents, including insurance lobbyists and representatives from the health care industry, argued it would instead increase costs and drive some motorists to forgo auto insurance altogether.
The legislation, which received just three “no” votes in its two House committee stops, would have ended Florida’s current mandate requiring drivers to carry PIP coverage of $10,000 per person and $20,000 per incident. Instead, motorists would have needed to carry coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per incident, and after an accident, the victim could sue the offending driver directly rather than their insurer.
Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a similar proposal that Republican Sens. Danny Burgess and Erin Grall carried in 2021 and signaled he was keen on doing it again this year if it reached his desk.
Legislation to repeal PIP in 2022 and 2023 also failed.
Grall again sponsored the legislation for the 2025 Session (SB 1256) with support from Democratic Sen. Darryl Rouson, but the bill died unheard. The measure was to first go before the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance. The panel’s Chair, Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, is a DeSantis ally.
Florida Politics contacted Alvarez and Grall for comment, but neither responded.
Republican Rep. Mike Caruso, who cast the sole “no” vote against HB 1181 at its second stop April 3, said the bill amounted to “a handout to trial attorneys.”
“My debate at the time was that this was going to cause Floridians to have higher insurance rates, bog down our courts and everything else,” he said Monday. “I voted against that.”
