HB 1047 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to insurance; amending s. 626.732, 2
F.S.; revising the requirements for licensing or 3
qualifying general lines agents; amending s. 626.878, 4
F.S.; specifying when adjusters must include their 5
appointment types if communicating by text message; 6
prohibiting public adjusters from engaging in certain 7
adversarial conduct; amending s. 627.4108, F.S.; 8
limiting the requirements for the claims -handling 9
manual to authorized residential property insurers 10
with active residential policies; amending s. 11
627.4133, F.S.; revising the circumstances under which 12
an insurer or agent may cancel or nonrenew certain 13
residential property insurance policies; amending s. 14
627.7011, F.S.; revising the required statement by 15
insurers issuing a homeowner's insurance policy tha t 16
does not provide flood insurance coverage; amending s. 17
627.70131, F.S.; requiring that proof -of-loss 18
statements that are received by property insurers be 19
written; specifying when adjusters must include their 20
name and license number if communicating by te xt 21
message; revising the required statement by property 22
insurers providing a preliminary or partial estimate 23
of damage regarding a claim; revising the required 24
statement by property insurers providing payment on a 25
HB 1047 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
claim which is not the full and final paym ent for the 26
claim; providing an effective date. 27
28
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 29
30
Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 626.732, Florida 31
Statutes, is amended to read: 32
626.732 Requirement as to knowledge, experience, or 33
instruction.— 34
(1) Except as provided in subsection (4), an applicant for 35
a license as a general lines agent, except for a chartered 36
property and casualty underwriter (CPCU), may not be qualified 37
or licensed unless, within the 4 years immediately preceding the 38
date the application for license is filed with the department, 39
the applicant has satisfied, at a minimum, one of the following 40
requirements: 41
(a) Taught or successfully completed 60 200 hours of 42
coursework in property, casualty, surety, health, and ma rine 43
insurance approved by the department, 3 hours of which must be 44
on the subject matter of ethics .; 45
(b) Completed at least 1 year in responsible insurance 46
duties as a substantially full -time bona fide employee in all 47
lines of property and casualty insu rance as set forth in the 48
definition of a general lines agent under s. 626.015, but 49
without the education requirement described in paragraph (a) .; 50
HB 1047 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
or 51
(c) Completed at least 1 year of responsible insurance 52
duties as a licensed and appointed customer repre sentative, 53
service representative, or personal lines agent and 40 hours of 54
coursework approved by the department covering the areas of 55
property, casualty, surety, health, and marine insurance. 56
Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 626.878, Florida 57
Statutes, is amended, and subsection (4) is added to that 58
section, to read: 59
626.878 Rules; code of ethics. — 60
(2) A person licensed as an adjuster must identify himself 61
or herself in any advertisement, solicitation, or written 62
document based on the adjuster a ppointment type held. However, 63
if the adjuster is communicating with a policyholder by text 64
message, the adjuster's appointment type held is required only 65
in the initial text message and is not required in subsequent 66
text messages. 67
(4) A public adjuster may not engage in any adversarial 68
conduct with insurance company claims personnel during the 69
course of adjusting claims, including, but not limited to, 70
electronically recording insurance company claims personnel and 71
consultants without their consent. 72
Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 627.4108, Florida 73
Statutes, is amended to read: 74
627.4108 Claims-handling manuals; submission; 75
HB 1047 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
attestation.— 76
(1) Each authorized residential property insurer with 77
active residential policies conducting business in this state 78
must create and use a claims -handling manual that provides 79
guidelines and procedures and that complies with the 80
requirements of this code and, at a minimum, comports to usual 81
and customary industry claims -handling practices. Such manual 82
must include all of the following guidelines and procedures for: 83
(a) Initially receiving and acknowledging initial receipt 84
of the claim and reviewing and evaluating the claim .; 85
(b) Communicating with policyholders, beginning with the 86
receipt of the claim and continuing until closure of the claim .; 87
(c) Setting the claim reserve .; 88
(d) Investigating the claim, including conducting 89
inspections of the property that is the subject of the claim .; 90
(e) Making preliminary estimates and estim ates of the 91
covered damages to the insured property and communicating such 92
estimates to the policyholder .; 93
(f) Paying, partially paying, or denying The payment, 94
partial payment, or denial of the claim and communicating such 95
claim decision to the policyho lder.; 96
(g) Closing claims.; and 97
(h) Any aspect of the claims -handling process which the 98
office determines should be included in the claims -handling 99
manual in order to: 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
1. Comply with the laws of this state or rules or orders 101
of the office or departme nt; 102
2. Ensure that the claims -handling manual, at a minimum, 103
comports with usual and customary industry claims -handling 104
guidelines; or 105
3. Protect policyholders of the insurer or the general 106
public. 107
Section 4. Paragraph (e) of subsection (2) of sect ion 108
627.4133, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 109
627.4133 Notice of cancellation, nonrenewal, or renewal 110
premium.— 111
(2) With respect to any personal lines or commercial 112
residential property insurance policy, including, but not 113
limited to, any homeown er, mobile home owner, farmowner, 114
condominium association, condominium unit owner, apartment 115
building, or other policy covering a residential structure or 116
its contents: 117
(e)1. An authorized insurer may not cancel or nonrenew a 118
personal residential or comm ercial residential property 119
insurance policy covering a dwelling or residential property 120
located in this state: 121
a. For a period of 90 days after the dwelling or 122
residential property has been repaired, if such property has 123
been damaged as a result of a hu rricane or wind loss that is the 124
subject of the declaration of emergency pursuant to s. 252.36 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
and the filing of an order by the Commissioner of Insurance 126
Regulation. 127
b. Until the earlier of when the dwelling or residential 128
property has been repaired or 1 year after the insurer issues 129
the final claim payment, if such property was damaged by any 130
covered peril and sub -subparagraph a. does not apply. 131
2. However, an insurer or agent may cancel or nonrenew 132
such a policy before prior to the repair of the dwel ling or 133
residential property: 134
a. Upon 10 days' notice for nonpayment of premium; or 135
b. Upon 45 days' notice: 136
(I) For a material misstatement or fraud related to the 137
claim; 138
(II) If the insurer determines that the insured has 139
unreasonably caused a de lay in the repair of the dwelling; or 140
(III) If the insurer has paid policy limits ; or 141
(IV) If the named insured does not have an insurable 142
interest in the insured property . 143
3. If the insurer elects to nonrenew a policy covering a 144
property that has be en damaged, the insurer must shall provide 145
at least 90 days' notice to the insured that the insurer intends 146
to nonrenew the policy 90 days after the dwelling or residential 147
property has been repaired. Nothing in this paragraph prevents 148
shall prevent the insurer from canceling or nonrenewing the 149
policy 90 days after the repairs are complete for the same 150
HB 1047 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
reasons the insurer would otherwise have canceled or nonrenewed 151
the policy but for the limitations of subparagraph 1. The 152
Financial Services Commissio n may adopt rules, and the 153
Commissioner of Insurance Regulation may issue orders, necessary 154
to implement this paragraph. 155
4. This paragraph shall also applies apply to personal 156
residential and commercial residential policies covering 157
property that was dam aged as the result of Hurricane Ian or 158
Hurricane Nicole. 159
5. For purposes of this paragraph: 160
a. A structure is deemed to be repaired when substantially 161
completed and restored to the extent that it is insurable by 162
another authorized insurer writing polic ies in this state. 163
b. The term "insurer" means an authorized insurer. 164
Section 5. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 165
627.7011, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 166
627.7011 Homeowners' policies; offer of replacement cost 167
coverage and law and ordinance coverage. — 168
(4) 169
(b) An insurer that issues a homeowner's insurance policy 170
that does not provide flood insurance coverage must include on 171
the policy declarations page at initial issuance and every 172
renewal, in bold type no smaller than 18 poi nts, the following 173
statement: 174
175
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
"FLOOD INSURANCE: YOU SHOULD CONSIDER THE PURCHASE OF 176
FLOOD INSURANCE. YOUR HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE POLICY 177
DOES NOT INCLUDE COVERAGE FOR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM 178
FLOOD EVEN IF HURRICANE WINDS AND RAIN CAUSED THE 179
FLOOD TO OCCUR. WITHOUT SEPARATE FLOOD INSURANCE 180
COVERAGE, YOUR UNCOVERED LOSSES CAUSED BY FLOOD ARE 181
NOT COVERED. PLEASE DISCUSS THE NEED TO PURCHASE 182
SEPARATE FLOOD INSURANCE COVERAGE WITH YOUR INSURANCE 183
AGENT." 184
185
Section 6. Paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of subsection (3) , 186
paragraph (b) of subsection (4), and subsection (6) of section 187
627.70131, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 188
627.70131 Insurer's duty to acknowledge communications 189
regarding claims; investigation. — 190
(3)(a) Unless otherwise provided by the policy o f 191
insurance or by law, within 7 days after an insurer receives the 192
written proof-of-loss statements, the insurer shall begin such 193
investigation as is reasonably necessary unless the failure to 194
begin such investigation is caused by factors beyond the contro l 195
of the insurer. 196
(b) If such investigation involves a physical inspection 197
of the property, the licensed adjuster assigned by the insurer 198
must provide the policyholder with a printed or electronic 199
document containing his or her name and state adjuster li cense 200
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number. An insurer must conduct any such physical inspection 201
within 30 days after its receipt of the written proof-of-loss 202
statements. 203
(c) Any subsequent communication with the policyholder 204
regarding the claim must also include the name and license 205
number of the adjuster communicating about the claim. However, 206
when the adjuster communicates with a policyholder by text 207
message, the adjuster's name and license number are required 208
only in the initial text message and are not required in 209
subsequent text messages. Communication of the adjuster's name 210
and license number may be included with other information 211
provided to the policyholder. 212
(4) An insurer shall maintain: 213
(b) Claim records, including dates, of: 214
1. Any claim-related communication made be tween the 215
insurer and the policyholder or the policyholder's 216
representative; 217
2. The insurer's receipt of the policyholder's written 218
proof-of-loss statement; 219
3. Any claim-related request for information made by the 220
insurer to the policyholder or the pol icyholder's 221
representative; 222
4. Any claim-related inspections of the property made by 223
the insurer, including physical inspections and inspections made 224
by electronic means; 225
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5. Any detailed estimate of the amount of the loss 226
generated by the insurer's adj uster; 227
6. The beginning and end of any tolling period provided 228
for in subsection (8); and 229
7. The insurer's payment or denial of the claim. 230
(6)(a) When providing a preliminary or partial estimate of 231
damage regarding a claim, an insurer shall include w ith the 232
estimate the following statement printed in at least 12 -point 233
bold, uppercase type: "THIS ESTIMATE REPRESENTS OUR CURRENT 234
EVALUATION OF THE COVERED DAMAGES TO YOUR INSURED PROPERTY AND 235
MAY BE REVISED AS WE CONTINUE TO EVALUATE YOUR CLAIM. IF YOU 236
HAVE QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING 237
YOUR CLAIM, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO CONTACT US. " 238
(b) When providing a payment on a claim which is not the 239
full and final payment for the claim, an insurer shall include 240
with the payment the followin g statement printed in at least 12 -241
point bold, uppercase type: "WE HAVE ISSUED A PARTIAL SETTLEMENT 242
FOR ARE CONTINUING TO EVALUATE YOUR CLAIM INVOLVING YOUR INSURED 243
PROPERTY AND MAY ISSUE ADDITIONAL PAYMENTS. IF YOU HAVE 244
QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR 245
CLAIM, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO CONTACT US. " 246
Section 7. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. 247