Citizens has taken on an increasing role in the state as private insurers are either exiting the market or drastically increasing their rates in the wake of last year's string of destructive storms.

Earlier this year, Allstate announced that it will not renew 100,000 policies in the state and gradually discontinue writing most commercial property coverage in Florida. The Democrats pointed to this as evidence of the need for change in proposing their plan, as well as the requests from companies remaining in the market to increase their rates by as much as 42 percent.

However, Mr. Fraser noted that the current catastrophe fund is not without its supporters.

"There's a lot of people who feel the catastrophe fund is working exactly as it's supposed to," he said, noting that the fund has weathered "four major hurricanes last year, one already this year and one on the way," and is not in financial trouble.

Although there is no set timetable for hearings on the bill, Mr. Fraser said he expected members of the House Insurance Committee will discuss and debate the proposal during their sessions leading up to the opening of the next general legislative session. The session begins in March, and Mr. Fraser said that there is typically one "committee week" each month prior to that.