Politics & Government
Just A Handful Of GOP Lawmakers Said Yes To Special Session On Property Insurance
The Florida Dept. of State poll was to see if enough lawmakers would go along with a special session on the state's property insurance.
April 18, 2022
A Florida Department of State poll — to see if enough lawmakers would go along with a special session on the state’s property insurance crisis — failed Monday afternoon, state records show.
Find out what's happening in Across Floridafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
But Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday had already announced that he’d call legislators back to the capital in May to confront the crisis.
But it was Democrats who mostly pushed to convene a special session, according to a letter showing the results of a poll by the State Department.
Find out what's happening in Across Floridafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
(The department has to poll members of the Legislature to determine whether three-fifths of the members of each house favor convening a special session.)
In the Florida Senate, 17 of the 40 senators in the Legislature responded to the poll: 16 said yes and 1 Republican senator said no.
Of the 16 who said yes, 13 Democratic senators supported a special session on the property insurance issue.
Only 3 Republicans did so. Those Republicans are Sen. Jeff Brandes of Pinellas, who had pushed for the poll; Sen. Aaron Bean, president pro tempore of the Senate and representing Nassau County and part of Duval, and Sen. Ed Hooper, of parts of Pasco and Pinellas counties.
Likewise, in the House, Democrats were more supportive of convening a special session than Republicans.
Overall, 52 of 120 House members responded to the poll: 48 said yes, and 4 Republicans said no. Of the 48 who said yes, the vast majority were Democrats.
A dozen House Republicans supported a special session on property insurance. They are: Linda Chaney, of part of Pinellas; Tom Fabricio, of part of Broward, Miami-Dade; Elizabeth Fetterhoff, of part of Volusia; Blaise Ingoglia, of part of Hernando; Sam Killebrew, of part of Polk, and Anthony Sabatini, of part of Lake.
The Florida Phoenix, a nonprofit news site that’s free of advertising and free to readers, covers state government and politics through a mix of in-depth stories, briefs, and social media updates on the latest events, editorial cartoons, and progressive commentary. The Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.
