Pictured above: Jeff Brandes is a state senator from Florida’s District 26 in St. Petersburg.
Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times
By Molly Ryan
A banking and insurance bill in committee of the Florida State Senate could prove to be much more than allocating revenue from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe (CAT) Fund — it could be the beginning of something significant for the USF St. Petersburg campus.
First filed in October of 2021, the bill, SB 578, by the Committee on Banking and Insurance and Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Palm Harbor, incorporates an amendment by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, that, if passed, would allocate $2 million toward developing a risk management and insurance program at the USF St. Petersburg campus each fiscal year going forward — continuing past efforts to strengthen the campus.
According to the amendment, it would be set to begin in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
“Something I’ve been speaking to USF St. Petersburg faculty and administration about for years now is enhancing the [Kate Tiedemann College of Business] with a risk management program,” Brandes said in an interview with The Crow’s Nest. “There’s no university in Florida better suited for the industry than USF St. Petersburg.”
A proposal of how and where to appropriate a portion of the interests gained from Florida’s $12 billion CAT Fund, the bill is intended to maintain the state’s tax-free status while investing in the future of the state’s insurance and risk management research.
“The interest and dividend earnings that the CAT Fund throws off should also be spent on items like basic research, since USF St. Petersburg is in the heart of the insurance industry — there are multiple insurance companies within a 10-mile radius of the campus,” Brandes said.
On Jan. 18, the bill moved to be reviewed by the Community Affairs Committee — a standing committee in the Florida Senate that votes on a broad range of issues relating to local governments.
Currently, the bill does not have a sponsor from the Florida House of Representatives, which is crucial for its passage.
While the amendment does not directly specify that the $2 million would be going toward the St. Petersburg campus, Brandes affirmed with The Crow’s Nest that the language would be “tightened up” and more specific to the campus as the bill moved forward. Brandes expressed that support for the bill has been shown by both St. Petersburg and Tampa campus leaders.
According to the amendment, the program would be brought to the St. Petersburg campus “for the purpose of providing research into the property insurance market of this state.”
It also details how the program would “use publicly available data to analyze trends regarding, and to develop recommended policies and best practices for reducing, property insurance rates, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation policyholder counts and property insurance litigation frequency” as well as “analyze to what extent hurricane losses and rebuilding costs influence these trends.”
Brandes expressed how the passing of this bill could “solidly cement” USF as a leader in the discussion of Florida’s homeowner property insurance.
“[The general message students should take away from this bill] is that the Florida legislature is serious about basic research on some of the important problems facing Florida,” Brandes said. “The universities have a role to lead, and it’s important for [students] to know that we’re making significant investments in the future of the university in order to help us address the pressing public policy challenges.”
