A resolution recognizing that Florida's insurance market is gravely stressed by climate risks.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 556 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 556

  Recognizing that Florida's insurance market is gravely stressed by 
                             climate risks.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 17, 2025

 Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Markey, Mr. Van Hollen, 
    Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Welch, and Ms. Blunt Rochester) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Recognizing that Florida's insurance market is gravely stressed by 
                             climate risks.

Whereas, as reported by Columbia Business School, because climate change is a 
        ``major risk'' in Florida, many home insurers are at a high risk of 
        insolvency;
Whereas, following catastrophic hurricane losses, major insurers left the 
        Florida market entirely, leaving small, local, and less stable insurers 
        behind, many of which have already gone insolvent;
Whereas only mortgages protected by home insurance from insurers with a high 
        financial strength rating are eligible for the government mortgage-
        backed security program, which maintains liquidity in the mortgage 
        market, and as a result of this, the United States housing market 
        increasingly depends on the credibility of these ratings;
Whereas an insurance rating agency called Demotech has become increasingly 
        utilized by smaller home insurers in Florida;
Whereas Demotech rates 98 percent of insurers ``A'' or above;
Whereas insurers rated by Demotech are 30 times as likely to become insolvent as 
        those graded by rival rating companies;
Whereas, even when Florida homeowners are able to find a stable insurer, they 
        are still forced to pay increasingly high home insurance premiums, now 
        averaging $14,000 annually;
Whereas the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reports that home insurance 
        rates in Florida have risen 34 percent since late 2022;
Whereas Florida State law allows Citizens Property Insurance, the State-backed 
        insurer of last resort, to levy a surcharge on all policyholders to 
        recoup losses if its reserves fall short, levies that may be 
        uncollectable in real life; and
Whereas there are credible scenarios in which the losses of Citizens Property 
        Insurance exceed its ability to pay claims: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate calls on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to 
scrutinize Demotech's rating practices and calls on the Treasury 
Department's insurance office to examine the probability that State-
backed insurers of last resort, including Florida's, ask for a Federal 
bailout.
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