"This is not the wish list of the industry," adds Webb.

SB 408 looks to curb insurers' losses from sinkholes. Carriers sought to have the mandatory coverage language deleted but settled for language specifically defining "structural damage" in order to narrow the definition of a sinkhole loss. Sinkhole claims must be filed within two years of the covered loss.

Roger Desjadon, spokesperson for the Florida Property & Casualty Association (FPCA) and president of Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., says sinkholes in Florida are a "catastrophe without wind and rain." The industry has long alleged people have been gaming the system.

SB 408 "codifies what structural damage really means," Desjadon says. "So anyone with a hole in their garden can't say they have a sinkhole."

Miller says sinkhole-related language in the bill is intended to gives the courts guidance. "Courts didn't know what to do with [sinkholes]," she adds.

Webb, whose firm lobbies for the FPCA, says the way insurers had shelled out replacement costs "was getting out of control."

Prior to SB 408, insurers had to give policyholders the entire replacement cost for a home repair. Insurers suspected many repairs were never done.

With the bill, insurers can now dole out a check for the actual cash value of the repair and give another check to the homeowner when receipts for repairs are presented.

Policyholders will also be given the option of two policies for replacement costs on home contents. They can either buy a full replacement-cost policy for contents or a presumably cheaper hold-back policy.

Desjadon says "no one got hoodwinked" by the legislation, as has been alleged by some consumer and attorney groups.

Detractors also alleged that a provision allowing an expedited rate filing to recoup up to 15 percent of reinsurance costs amounts to a free pass for insurers to raise rates. The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) must look at this type of filing within 45 days, not 90 days.

"The fact of the matter is that the OIR will scrutinize it just the same as they always have," Desjadon says. "Just because they have to look at it sooner doesn't mean they will put blinders on when they do."

Samuel Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council, says rates will be "dramatically less with this bill than without it" because the bill goes after sinkholes and replacement costs.

"The truth is most Floridians haven't filed an abusive sinkhole claim and they haven't taken advantage of the replacement cost value, but they are all paying for those who do," he says.

SB 408 also aims to limit public-adjuster compensation for reopened or supplemental claims, and homeowners must file a claim within three years of a storm, not five.

The bill increases the minimum surplus requirements for new residential property insurers from $5 million to $15 million for those approved on or after July 1. The surplus requirement gradually increases to $15 million over the next decade for those insurers already in Florida.