Former Florida Congressman Jeff Brandes currently serves as director of the Florida Policy Project.
Former state Sen. Jeff Brandes said a lack of legislative leadership is making it impossible to resolve Florida’s ongoing real estate insurance crisis.
Speaking at WMNF WaveMakers with Janet and Tom, Brandes said term limits mean legislative leaders like the Senate President and the Speaker of the House only have two-year terms, and long-term strategies for getting things done. He said this means there is not enough time to formulate and implement the plan.
“It’s all tactics; there’s no strategy,” said Brandes, who now heads a nonprofit think tank called the Florida Policy Project. “No one can tell you, Republican or Democratic, because there’s no long-term strategy.” Wanting to lower the cost of property and casualty insurance isn’t a strategy. “It’s a hope.” Brandes said. says.
Brandes said the nonprofit Florida Policy Project, which released a study on the insurance crisis six months ago, provides the detailed facts lawmakers need to craft new strategies on property and casualty insurance, transportation, criminal justice and housing. He said that he is trying to provide research based on the following. He considers himself a libertarian and supports market-based solutions, but believes there is a big role for federal, state and local governments to help.
The project’s proposed solutions to the property insurance crisis include providing government assistance to property owners in flood-prone areas to improve their homes to meet current flood and wind mitigation standards. included, Brandes said. Additionally, zoning would need to be changed to allow more housing units so owners could generate income to pay for needed improvements, which would also address the issue of affordable housing. He said it was a solution to this. To reduce dependence on the state-backed nonprofit Citizens Insurance, Florida’s largest property and casualty insurer, the Florida government is offering incentives to expand the pool of providers, including matching funds for startups. should be provided.
A top project priority for this Congress is establishing centers of excellence at Florida research universities to address public policy issues such as insurance and affordable housing.
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