| Paul Hardy enjoys helping people - for 50 years
Its just like any other job, said Paul Hardy of Hardy Insurance Group. Hardy celebrated 50 years as an insurance agent on March 1. Theres something about helping people that I enjoy.
His first job after receiving his license to sell insurance in 1958 was with Farm Bureau. According to Hardy, at that time insurance policies for the home and farm were standard fire. When a change to a separate homeowners insurance policy was established, his clients resisted the change. He said, They would ask me why change? Were happy with the way things are. Mr. Hardy continued to work for Farm Bureau until 1969, when he then contracted to work for Mutual of New York.
It was in 1971 when he made a life changing decision. I decided that if I was going to stay in the insurance business, I was going to work for myself," he said.
Florida House panel criticizes 2007 homeowner insurance law
In a rare political mea culpa, state legislators said Monday there are deep flaws in the sweeping property insurance law they passed almost unanimously last year to help lower homeowner insurance rates.
The House Insurance Committee held a hearing Monday aimed at building support to reverse last year's legislation.
Among other changes, the 2007 legislation expanded the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund by $12 billion to offer insurers cheaper reinsurance, or backup coverage, and rescinded rate hikes of 21 percent and 56 percent for Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the public property insurer that has become the state's largest.
The legislative package helped lower homeowner rates by a statewide average of about 15 percent. But House insurance committee members say in hindsight, the savings won't be worth the financial risk if a major hurricane strikes, wipes out state funds and leaves almost all Florida homeowners to foot the bill.
Citizens' Rates Likely Static
TALLAHASSEE - Legislation to maintain below-market rates of state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and lessen the amount all Florida policyholders would pay in assessments after a big hurricane won approval from Senate lawmakers Tuesday. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee approved a bill, backed by Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, to reduce the state's Hurricane Catastrophe Fund by $3 billion, which would shed some of the risk the state took on last year to lower premiums. A House committee approved a similar measure last month. But there's a downside: Homeowner rates statewide might go up about 3 percent if the "cat fund," which provides low-cost reinsurance to private insurers, is reduced. The possibility of slightly higher rates is a risk some lawmakers and state officials are willing to take if it means less exposure for the state.
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