Short answer: According to SB 2-A (Chapter 2022-271, Laws of Florida, effective December 16, 2022), Florida cut insurer claim deadlines, shortened how long you have to report a loss, and eliminated the one-way attorney fee for property insurance suits. Insurers now must acknowledge a claim in 7 days and pay or deny it in 60, while new and reopened claims must be reported within 1 year of the loss.
What is SB 2-A (2022), and what did it change?
SB 2-A is the property insurance bill passed in Florida's December 2022 special session (Session 2022A) as CS/CS/SB 2-A. It became Chapter 2022-271, Laws of Florida, and took effect December 16, 2022, upon becoming law. It rewrote large parts of how residential and commercial property claims work: it shortened insurer claim deadlines, cut the windows for reporting a loss, eliminated the one-way attorney fee for property insurance suits, created an opt-in binding-arbitration framework, tightened the rules on appraisal, and created a new state reinsurance program.
SB 2-A is one of four reform packages, and they are easy to confuse. Keep them straight:
- SB 76 (2021)
- SB 2D (May 2022 special session)
- SB 2-A (December 2022 special session) - this page
- HB 837 (2023 tort reform)
How did SB 2-A shorten insurer claim deadlines?
SB 2-A amended Fla. Stat. 627.70131 to compress every stage of the insurer's claim-handling timeline, and it amended Fla. Stat. 627.70132 to shorten how long you have to report a loss. Carriers must move faster, but so must you.
| Requirement | New rule (SB 2-A) | Prior rule | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acknowledge a claim communication | 7 days | 14 days | 627.70131(1)(a) |
| Begin investigation after proof of loss | 7 days | 14 days | 627.70131(3)(a) |
| Physical inspection (non-hurricane-deductible) | 30 days | 45 days | 627.70131(3)(b) |
| Pay or deny the claim or a portion | 60 days | 90 days | 627.70131(7)(a) |
| Maximum OIR extension of the pay/deny period | 30 additional days | not specified | 627.70131(5) |
| Report a new or reopened claim | 1 year from date of loss | 2 years | 627.70132(2) |
| Report a supplemental claim | 18 months from date of loss | 3 years | 627.70132(2) |
The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) may extend the pay-or-deny period for factors genuinely beyond the insurer's control, but by no more than 30 additional days. See Fla. Stat. 627.70131 for the full claim-response breakdown.
How long do you now have to report a claim?
As the table above shows, SB 2-A amended Fla. Stat. 627.70132 so the reporting windows run from the date of loss and are much tighter. A new or reopened claim must be reported within 1 year (cut from 2 years), and a supplemental claim within 18 months (cut from 3 years). Miss the window and the claim is barred, no matter how valid the damage. See Fla. Stat. 627.70132.
What happened to the one-way attorney fee?
For decades, Fla. Stat. 627.428 gave policyholders a one-way attorney fee: win the suit, and the insurer paid your legal fees. SB 2-A ended that for property insurance. It amended s. 627.428(1) and the surplus-lines equivalent s. 626.9373(1) so that in a suit arising under a residential or commercial property insurance policy, reasonable attorney fees may be awarded only as provided in s. 57.105 or s. 627.70152. It also amended s. 627.428(4) and s. 626.9373(3) so the fee right cannot be transferred, assigned, or acquired by anyone other than a named or omnibus insured or a named beneficiary, which shuts down fee-shifting through assignments.
SB 2-A also reworked Fla. Stat. 627.70152 so it applies exclusively to suits not brought by an assignee, and it codified a strong lodestar presumption for any fee award.
Important current-state note: SB 2-A did not repeal s. 627.428; it carved property insurance suits out of the one-way fee. The 2023 tort-reform law, HB 837, later repealed s. 627.428 entirely, so today the one-way property fee is gone across the board. The language above is quoted from SB 2-A as enacted.
What is the new mandatory binding arbitration option (s. 627.70154)?
SB 2-A created Fla. Stat. 627.70154. A property insurance policy may require mandatory binding arbitration only if all five conditions are met:
- It is offered through a separate policy endorsement.
- The policyholder receives an actuarially sound premium credit or discount for choosing it.
- The policyholder signs an election form disclosing the rights being given up, including the right to a jury trial.
- Mediation under s. 627.7015 is completed before arbitration.
- The insurer also offers a policy that does not require mandatory binding arbitration.
In short, arbitration is opt-in: you cannot be forced into it without a real, discounted, disclosed choice. See Fla. Stat. 627.7015 for the mediation step this provision references.
Can an insurer be blocked from using appraisal?
Yes. SB 2-A amended Fla. Stat. 627.410(3). If a market-conduct examination finds a pattern of willful unfair-trade-practice violations in how an insurer uses its appraisal clause, OIR must reexamine the insurer's appraisal-clause forms and may withdraw form approval and issue an order prohibiting the insurer from invoking appraisal for up to 2 years. See our Appraisal and Umpire service for how appraisal fits into a disputed valuation.
What did SB 2-A do for the insurance market?
SB 2-A created Fla. Stat. 215.5552, the Florida Optional Reinsurance Assistance program, or FORA, an optional hurricane-reinsurance program for the 2023 season structured in industry layers, with a FORA industry layer 1 limit of $1 billion and a layer 2 limit of $1 billion. FORA is separate from the earlier RAP program (s. 215.5551), which SB 2D created; SB 2-A only references RAP, it did not create it.
How does Ocean Point help under the shorter deadlines?
The compressed timelines cut both ways: the carrier must move faster, but so must you, because a missed 1-year or 18-month reporting window bars the claim outright. Our team documents the loss, builds the estimate, and files inside the statutory windows so nothing lapses. We have 21 years in Florida property claims and have handled 500+ mediations, and we prepare Civil Remedy Notices when a carrier blows the 60-day pay-or-deny deadline without justification. Ocean Point holds Florida DFS firm license W829547, and our primary public adjuster is Eli Goins (license P159790). We are a member of FAPIA.
Who this is for, and what should you do now?
If your loss happened on or after December 16, 2022, the SB 2-A clock is running against you, not the pre-reform calendar. Report new and reopened claims within 1 year and supplemental claims within 18 months, and hold the carrier to the 7-day acknowledgment and 60-day pay-or-deny deadlines. Read any arbitration endorsement before you sign it, because electing s. 627.70154 arbitration waives your jury trial. Because SB 2-A and later HB 837 removed the one-way attorney fee, the old assumption that a lawyer costs the insurer nothing no longer holds, so engaging a public adjuster early to maximize the claim on the front end matters more than it used to.
Bottom line: treat SB 2-A as a shot clock. Report on time, demand the shortened insurer deadlines, and get professional help before a reporting window closes.