Arlington, VA – The American Consumer Institute (ACI) is encouraged by growing evidence that Florida’s 2022 and 2023 consumer insurance and litigation reforms are working as intended. Early market data and recent state filings show that the reforms have helped stabilize the state’s insurance market, curb litigation abuse, and reduce rate pressures for policyholders — outcomes consistent with ACI’s previous research and policy recommendations.
Speaking at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association conference in Orlando on October 6, Governor DeSantis praised the impact of the reforms, noting widespread rate decreases and stronger market competition. The Governor stated that efforts to roll back these reforms are unlikely to resurface in the upcoming January 2026 legislative session, emphasizing, “They didn’t have a mandate to try to undo the reforms… I don’t think that there’s really any realistic chance that any of this stuff will come rolling back in next year’s legislative session.” He also underscored his readiness to veto any such attempts.
DeSantis pointed to tangible consumer benefits, including 59 filings for rate decreases and 87 filings for zero rate increases in 2025 alone. “Most automobile policies in the state of Florida are seeing a reduction in their insurance rates. That’s all because of the reforms,” the Governor said. “That would not have happened had we not done those reforms.”
In a report ACI published in 2022, The Incentive to Sue: How Florida’s Legal Environment Harms Consumers, ACI documented how Florida’s one-way attorney fee system and litigation incentives had distorted the state’s insurance market. The analysis revealed that while Florida represented only 8 percent of the nation’s homeowners insurance claims, it accounted for nearly 79 percent of all homeowners insurance lawsuits. This imbalance, ACI found, significantly increased costs for both insurers and consumers, creating a cycle of higher premiums and reduced market participation.
Following the report’s publication, ACI actively educated Florida lawmakers and policymakers on these findings, briefing legislative staff and providing testimony and analysis that highlighted the connection between excessive litigation and rising consumer costs. These educational efforts helped inform the policy debate and contributed to advancing the reforms across the finish line.
The research detailed how these legal incentives allowed a small number of trial attorneys to capture outsized fee awards while offering limited benefits to consumers. The findings underscored the need for reform to restore fairness and sustainability in Florida’s insurance system. The 2022 and 2023 legislative reforms addressed the core problems identified in ACI’s research by eliminating one-way attorney fees, limiting abusive litigation tactics, and promoting greater accountability and transparency in claims handling.
The early results demonstrate the value of data-driven policy and confirm that well-structured reform can deliver meaningful consumer benefits while strengthening market competition.
For media inquiries, please email [email protected]
The American Consumer Institute is a nonprofit education and research organization.