Florida Legislature Passes SB 1028 Establishing Commercial Insurance Clearinghouse

The Florida Legislature passed SB 1028, creating a clearinghouse for commercial residential and non-residential policies. As an overview, the bill would create both an admitted and surplus lines clearinghouse for new or renewal commercial policies. Citizens would be allowed the option to employ or contract an administrator to manage each program and will need to amend its plan of operations to include the clearinghouse programs. Simultaneously, the Office of Insurance Regulation will retain oversight and approval of the amended plan of operations, contracts, procedural rules, and agreements with any administrator.

The bill allows Citizens to provide each clearinghouse administrator support and access to its systems for administration of the program, however Citizens is prohibited from providing funds to support or offset the infrastructure or operations of the surplus lines clearinghouse administrator. The commercial surplus lines administrator must finance its technology and IT expenditures. Citizens is not required to implement any clearinghouse if there is insufficient commercial support.

Under the anticipated clearinghouse process, Citizens would first submit a new or renewal application through the commercial lines administrator for admitted carriers. If there is no offer of comparable coverage from an admitted carrier after five days, then the risk would become eligible for submission to the surplus lines clearinghouse. Surplus lines carriers with an A- or better rating from AM Best and size category of A-VII or higher would be able (but not required) to participate in the surplus lines clearinghouse.  

For purposes of determining eligibility to place a policy through the clearinghouse, the “total cost of insurance coverage,” which includes premiums plus all fees, taxes, assessments, surcharges, and other charges the policyholder must pay, cannot be more than 15 percent higher than the total cost for comparable coverage through Citizens. Additionally, the bill would mandate payment of commissions to the producing agent and allow the originating agent of record to retain the ownership rights of their clients’ information until sold or surrendered by the agent.

The bill would become law if signed by the Governor and would take effect upon signature.  

This summary provides a high-level overview. The statute contains many substantive requirements, and readers are encouraged to review the full text of the bill here:  https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/1028/BillText/e1/PDF

Insurance Customer Rep Licensing
Change Goes To Governor

A bill providing an alternative pathway to meet pre-licensing requirements for insurance customer service representatives (4-40 license) was sent to the Governor on March 6, 2026, after the Senate unanimously passed HB 1343. The bill now awaits the Governor’s signature.

Presently, applicants for a 4-40 license must, within four years of applying, either earn a degree from an accredited institution of higher education that includes at least nine credit hours of insurance instruction or obtain one of several specified insurance-related designations issued by approved entities.

HB 1343 adds an additional pathway to meet this requirement. Applicants who have received a diploma from a Florida high school and completed a new course relating to insurance and personal finance, which includes instruction on basic property and casualty insurance, may qualify for the license within four years of applying for a customer service representative license. The new course will apply towards the student’s high school diploma and will be developed by the Florida Department of Education, in consultation with the Florida Department of Financial Services. 

The new insurance and personal finance course is designed to be offered as a high school elective beginning in the 2027–2028 school year.

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