The Florida Roundup - Florida's insurance market, controversies for both political parties and environmental news 

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

This week on The Florida Roundup, we talk about some of the biggest challenges to stabilizing Florida’s insurance market with the state’s Insurance Commissioner Michael Yarwosky (01:40) and Tim Cerio, President/CEO and Executive Director of Citizens Property Insurance Corp (10:24). And later, we speak with the Miami Herald’s senior political correspondent about calls for the head of the state’s Republican Party to step down and the Florida Democrats' decision to cancel its presidential primary (29:55). Plus, a collection of environmental stories from across the state (38:06).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being with us this week. There's plenty of blame to go around for the high cost of home insurance in Florida. Insurance companies themselves, people looking to defraud the system, the governor, lawmakers, and yes, hurricanes. But who you blame may depend on your politics. A poll from the University of North Florida finds Republicans and independent voters most often point to insurance companies. So do Democrats, who also point to Governor Ron DeSantis. A separate survey finds 9 out of 10 Floridians

are worried about the high cost of home insurance. Now, here, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican, Democrat, or Independent, if you live in Orlando, Tampa, or a small town, if you're young or old, if you voted for Trump or Biden three years ago. It doesn't matter. It's almost unanimous among homeowners. They worry about the skyrocketing cost of home insurance. Today, we'll hear from the guy responsible for watching over the insurance industry in Florida and from the guy who leads the company that insures the most homes and condominiums in the state. We also want to hear from you. How are you dealing with the jump in your insurance premium?

How has that impacted your cost of living, your monthly budget? And who do you blame and expect to address it? Email us now, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, or line up the calls at 305-995-1800, 305-995-1800. Your calls and emails coming up in a bit. First, we spoke with Michael Yawarski, the Florida Insurance Commissioner. Commissioner, welcome to Florida Public Radio. Governor DeSantis' budget calls for a one-year exemption on a number of taxes, fees, and assessments for homeowners insurance policies. The governor said the tax holiday will reduce the cost of homeowners insurance.

Do you support the holiday? Absolutely. I think it's something that we can do when we're looking out there at the measures and tools that are available to the state to reduce the impact of the situation on the insurance companies themselves. So what guarantees are necessary to ensure that the tax holiday for the insurance companies are passed on to the homeowners? So in the cases of the ones that are being placed on hold or are going to be permanently held back, those particular ones are statutorily required currently to go to the end consumer or the end good user. And so by pulling back on those taxes and pausing them directly, it'll ensure absolutely that there's no collection technique taking place. And the Office of Insurance Regulation will be working with the Department of Revenue to make sure that there is no errors in that. And if we do identify any errors, we will absolutely make sure that that there is no errors in that. And if we do identify any

errors, we will absolutely make sure that the consumer is made right in that. So when the governor talks about homeowner insurance, policyholders could see, I think he said, what, a 6% perhaps savings. That's the dropdown of the tax holidays that the companies are required by law to pass along to the policyholder? Right. And it will depend independently on which insurance products each consumer uses. But yeah, it could be upwards of 6%. And at the end of the day, we will make sure that the insurers are not charging those to consumers. Let me ask you about Citizens. It remains the largest home insurer in Florida, more than double the second largest, which is State Farm. What size do you think is responsible for Citizens in Florida? One of the things I always say when I speak up about Citizens First

is in the past, I think as we've looked to signs of health in the market, we've seen a shrinking Citizens as a cause of a healthy market. In this case, I think it is better measured as an effect of a healthy market. And that's just distinguishable for the fact that as we begin offsetting risk off of citizens, we need to make sure the companies that are taking on that risk are truly able to handle that and be there for the customers when they need it the most after some sort of disaster, either through a catastrophe or just something that happens in their home. But on the size of citizens itself, we had a low watermark right at the beginning of this difficult half decade we've had of about 420,000 policies. I think that a healthy number for

citizens, we should expect it to somewhat shrink and grow as market conditions dictate. But a healthy round number for citizens is probably between 500,000 and 600,000 policies. So about half the size it is today because it's got about 1.3 million policies now. Yeah, that's correct. What type of insurance premium change requests are you expecting for 2024 from the commercial market? We get a lot of rate filings, a lot of different companies, a lot of different programs, but we're seeing some things that we think is good for people to know. We're seeing for the first time in a long time, we're seeing 0% rate increase requests that we think will be are indicative

based on our early analysis of the impacts of the legislation that passed last year. And is that for HO3, just standard homeowners policy? That is HO3 standard homeowners. We've also received one very slight decrease request from one particular company. These are anecdotal. Yeah, anecdotal. Are these sizable companies? Yes, they are. So the thousands perhaps of homeowners could be in line for those as you're assessing those requests? Yes. And I do want to highlight that when I'm giving this number,

it is the overall average for the rate request itself. So not every... It'll depend on a number of rating factors for those individual homes. But there's some good trending in that sort of direction that indicates we're seeing we're entering a stability phase of the market after all the upheaval we've had over the past six years. Our partner station in Miami has reported on how Citizens uses unlicensed home inspectors as it has dramatically increased inspections of policies that it has. Should Citizens Property Insurance use licensed home inspectors for all inspections? dramatically increased inspections of policies that it has. Should citizens' property insurance use licensed home inspectors for all inspections? As the regulator, we've asked citizens questions on that, and we're looking for some follow-up to see where they're going to go. What kind of questions have you asked, if you don't mind me asking you? Absolutely. As the regulator, we have a role to make sure that what they're doing is appropriate

and the consumers are getting treated at the end of the day in a way that is compliant with Florida law. So we're really focused on the aspects of what they're doing as it relates to compliance to Florida law. There's some nuances within the law as it relates to who is qualified to perform a quote-unquote inspection of a property. So let's parse that out. What do you mean by quote-unquote inspection of a property. So let's parse that out. What do you mean by quote-unquote inspection? Is that boots on the ground in your front yard physically on your property or reviewing someone else's report? Because Citizen says all final reports are done by licensed inspectors.

The challenge has been people who are visiting these properties oftentimes are unlicensed. If you're hitting the nail on the head as far as the type of question we're asking, The challenge has been people who are visiting these properties oftentimes are unlicensed. You're hitting the nail on the head as far as the type of question we're asking. We're asking the very question you're asking, and we're asking for an argument around that question just so that they can see if they can provide an answer for what they're doing in compliance ultimately with Florida law. And so we're going to wait for those answers. Once we get those answers, we'll look at them and we'll either find them satisfactory or not. Citizens contends that what it's doing is legal. You still have questions about whether or not it follows current Florida law. Is that accurate?

That's correct. And we'll make sure at the end of the day that we find a belief that they are in compliance with Florida law. A few weeks ago, Commissioner, when we talked about home insurance, we got a number of emails from listeners. We weren't able to get to all of them. But just to give you an indication, highlight, right, some of the challenges that Floridians are having with property insurance. Orson sent us a note saying that his mom finally paid off her home. She needs a new roof badly, but they can't get the loan because they can't get insurance on the home. He wrote that his mom's home won't pass a

four-point inspection because she needs a new roof. Sad to know, he writes, that elderly Americans who are still in good health are being forced to sell homes at a reduced value because of issues like a roof condition. For folks like Orson's mom, longtime Floridians that have paid off their home but are having trouble getting insurance, what kind of guidance can you provide them? That's a very difficult situation, and I feel for that person and their mother. I think the bottom line is there are a couple of things that I would recommend right off the bat if they haven't pursued this, one of which is not every agent has access to the same companies. People should feel free to talk to multiple agents and make sure that they are getting the best deal that suits their current problems or their needs.

A different agent may have a company that would be willing to work around that or may not require a four-point inspection up front and kind of get through those initial hoops. Commissioner, I appreciate your time. Thanks for answering the questions. Absolutely. Pleasure to be here. Michael Yawarski is the Florida Insurance Commissioner. He says he's seen some early signs of stability in the home insurance market. So is your insurance coming up for renewal soon? What are you expecting? Radio at thefloridaroundup.org is our email. Our inbox is open. Send us a quick note, radio at thefloridaroundup.org or call 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. Those calls and emails coming up. Now, for every six properties with insurance in Florida, you are ultimately on the hook for one

of them. Yeah, it's because the state-backed insurance company Citizens is the largest insurer in the state. Over 1 million homes and condominiums are insured by Citizens, which can tack on a charge to all insurance policies in the state if it needs to collect money to pay for claims after a monster storm. That's just one of the worries about citizens. Recent reporting by our partner station in Miami WLRN shined a light on the company's practice of using unlicensed inspectors to look at tens of thousands of homes. We spoke about both issues with Tim Serio, the CEO of Citizens Property Insurance. Tim, welcome to the Florida Roundup,

and thanks for your time today. We got a lot to talk about, and I want to start with the Senate Committee investigation spurred on by the Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. He had sent a letter to Governor DeSantis writing that he's, quote, increasingly concerned about Florida's uniquely large and growing exposure to climate related property losses. He noted how Citizens has grown and its ability to levy special assessments on everyone with an insurance policy in Florida. This week, you have said several times how Citizens has never asked for a bailout by the federal government, and it hasn't. Is it conceivable that it could? I see no scenario where we are going to ask for a federal bailout. And I do believe there is a fundamental misunderstanding of how we operate.

I mean, the good thing about citizens is that we always have the ability to pay claims because we not only have legislative authority, we have a legislative mandate that if our reserves are exhausted and we still have to pay claims we must charge a surcharge to citizens policyholders and if they're still not enough we have to levy assessments on all Florida policyholders now that's good for the citizens policyholder their claims will be paid but the other side of that is we obviously want to minimize the risk of ever having to levy an assessment. So that's why we're always talking a lot about making sure that we're charging actuarially sound rates, which currently we are on the whole not, and we've been working very hard.

We want to get back to that point. And also that's why there's such an effort to shrink citizens, because the larger we are, the larger the exposure and the larger the chance that there could be an assessment on people who aren't even citizens customers. And we don't think that's fair. So that's why we will always be able to pay claims, but it comes with a price tag. You mentioned accuracy and how you want citizens to be non-competitive, right? So you don't want citizens to be the lowest cost option out there for folks. Citizens has been shrinking the number of homes it covers over the past few months after doubling in size over the past several years. Is that effort to shrink citizens a

recognition of the financial threat that the company poses to taxpayers because of the size? Absolutely. I mean, the governor has been very mindful. He wants to avoid a situation where citizens is forced to charge an assessment on policyholders, the legislative leadership. Actually, it's been pretty bipartisan, both sides. Nobody wants us to be in that position. The CFO has talked about that. So it is definitely a recognition. And I think as we've seen the market recover, I mean, we have our own efforts for depopulation, but it's clearly become a lot easier because I think there's a recognition in the market that some of the litigation reforms are working. There's more reinsurance available because the reinsurers are seeing positive signs in the Florida market.

What is the maximum loss before requiring a taxpayer bailout as we are six months away from the 2024 season? So our forecast for 2024 is it would take a one in 95 year storm to hit before we would ever levy a surcharge. What kind of damage would that be, Tim, in terms of a dollar figure? About $16.7 billion. And that does include it's the loss, but it's also forecasted other expenses to adjust claims, potential litigation, things of that nature. And that's the loss to citizens only. It's not the entire insured loss. That's citizens only. That's citizens. Irma was about $2 billion, I think, for citizens. Ian was under $4 billion. Is that roughly about right? Yeah, I believe so. I mean, I can say it this way. We're talking about a 1 in 95-year storm.

Andrew was a 1 in 43-year event. it it would take a heck of a storm part of that is because of the reforms um it's the reforms that have a lot i don't want to get super technical but we've been able to combine different accounts and basically pool our surplus you've been able to take kind of homeowners insurance windstorm insurance coastal insurance all different types of insurance that normally had been parsed out in different accounts, pool all that together. And that's allowed you to have this, I guess, larger cushion than you've had certainly in the last many years. Let me ask you, Tim, about another issue. As you know, our partner station has reported on citizens using unlicensed home inspectors. We were just talking to the Florida Insurance Commissioner who shared with us that

the Office of Insurance Regulation has asked some questions of citizens and is waiting for the answers regarding the use of unlicensed home inspectors. What can you share with our audience about the use of these inspectors? I think good scrutiny from the media, from the public is important. But I have to say, I think that your your sister station they did not have all the facts okay there's basically like a general property survey which which we termed an inspection and that's probably a misnomer because it suggests a level of training that frankly it's it's just not accurate these surveys do are they're not true home inspections under Florida law they do not require a licensed home inspector. And frankly,

it could be somebody going out with a cell phone camera and a notepad and just making notes. Maybe there's a big tree branch hanging over a property. Maybe there's some damage to the structure. This information for those surveys is sent to an underwriter, a very sophisticated, highly trained person who may have follow-up questions, but the underwriter makes the determination. This person in the field is not required to have a license. And I will tell you, that is the industry standard. We've increased the number of inspections. Fifteenfold over the past three years, about one in every four properties covered by citizens is expected to be inspected this year.

That's right. And I think that's still probably below the industry standard. And Tim, just back to that nomenclature used, are those true inspections or are those more along the lines of those surveys that you mentioned? They are surveys. I will tell you from 1% to up to about 25%, that does include everything. That includes the general surveys, the wind loss mitigation inspections, and the four-point inspections. But we have a very high satisfaction rate. And I'll tell you, there was also a suggestion that, oh, maybe Citizens is doing this to increase its rates. What we're trying to do is we're trying to make sure that properties are being insured by Citizens that don't have existing damage. And when we have gone out, what we're finding is that in over 40% of the cases,

the premiums are actually going down. Is Citizens considering using all license inspectors for all their different types of surveys or inspections? Is that on the board? To be very candid, I'm asking for a briefing on that from my staff. But I think that for what these folks are expected to do, I think it would increase costs for the company, which would increase costs for the other policyholders. And these truly are not inspections that require a license. If they were, the state would come down on us because they want to protect the consumer. When the Office of Insurance Regulation has been asking questions about this in your answers. Are you referring to them as surveys versus inspections now? We do. And again, that's on us because we don't want to set unfair expectations or send mixed signals. But in our response, we did talk

about the nature of the surveys. And we also pointed them to what constitutes under Florida law a home inspection requiring a license. You're confident that Citizens is following the law in all this, is that correct? I am 100% confident we're following the law, yes. Tim, we appreciate your time. Thanks so much for taking the opportunity and speaking with us. Tom, listen, thank you. We appreciate the opportunity to come on. There's a lot of tough things going on in the insurance market, and all we can do is try and be as transparent as we can. We don't always get it right, but when we don't, we want to fix it. Tim Serio is the CEO at Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed property insurer, the insurer so-called of last resort here in the state of Florida, talking with us here on the Florida Roundup.

Radio at thefloridaroundup.org is our email. Carol N. Stewart sent us this note. It's the offshore reinsurers, Lloyds of London, Bermuda, where many of these reinsurance companies are based in terms of their corporate headquarters. Carol says it's the high dollar. Sarah says, doesn't it seem like private insurers can never work properly with companies that are publicly traded? In the hurricane-free years, they always call it a profit and pay dividends

instead of saving it for the bad years. Rick writes us, our home insurance here in St. Augustine has gone up from $1,600 in 2018 to $6,100 for 2024, 280% increase in six years. Rick says he never made a claim on his 2,500-square-foot house. Your phone calls coming up and more emails as well. 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800 as we continue talking property insurance. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks as always for supporting public media in your community here in the Sunshine State. We're talking about the property cost, property insurance cost crisis throughout the state of Florida. Ninety one percent of Floridians in a recent poll say that they are very concerned about the cost of risk when it comes to homes and condominiums.

Three zero five nine nine five eighteen hundred. Our phone number Rufina has been listening in in St. Petersburg. Rufina, thanks for calling. You're on the radio. Yes, I live at Lake Overlook Condominium and our maintenance fees are going to be $1,000 according to the management company. They are now $870

coming up this January and they're blaming, the HOA is blaming heritage insurance prices going up even even though they were very poorly rated in the Better Business Bureau and I can't imagine the lady at Channel 8 interviewed me I don't know if you saw it but anyway she said said that the insurance couldn't possibly be $870 more, but that's what they're saying here. So this is your, sorry, so we understand you here, Rufina, this is your association's fee,

your HOA, your homeowner's association, is going up to $1,000 a month, and they're saying it's because of the... Well, they say it's going to be, And they say it's because of the insurance. Right. Heritage has gone high, high. Do you have separate insurance on your condominium? No, no, I do not. Okay, so it's a collective insurance policy.

But you'll be spending $12,000 a year for your HOA, which includes your insurance. How is that affecting your monthly budget? Well, this is the problem. I can't really pay it. And of course, you know that if you can't pay the maintenance fees, the HOA will take you to court and force you to pay. And they can't take your condo, but they can force you to pay it. Put a lien on yeah yeah we really so the president and vice president resigned yeah and now the management company's president has resigned elliot and um nobody seems nobody can we're answering the phone or telling us anything yeah and and so um and my cousin had

a little problem with heritage they don't have a very good reputation, but we're told that there's not much available. Rufina, yeah, to find a company that can cover at a building, depending on its age and its condition or whatnot. Boy, I really feel for you, and thank you for sharing that story from St. Petersburg. Lorraine has been listening in from Green Cove Springs. Oh, Lorraine dropped off. Let's go to Orlando. I think Peter has been holding on, been very patient with us. Peter, go ahead. You're on the radio. I think that the state insurance is actually mismanaged. Meaning citizens? Yes. Right. So to be clear, it's not state-run, right?

It's a private company, but it is state-backed. But tell me a little bit more, Peter, why you feel that way. My mom's insurance has gone over 200% in South Florida. She's paying $7,000, right, a month. They kicked her off the program. Wait, wait, sorry. So $7,000 a month. They kicked her off the program. Wait, wait, sorry. So $7,000 a month for insurance? Sorry, $7,000 a year.

They kicked her off the program, and the company that she was going to, they told her she would be paying $5,000, and then when she got her premium, it was the same $7,000. If it is that this company that is state-run, I mean, it's supposed to be like it says state-run, right? Then why is it for profit? And my question is that, right? Yeah, let me clear up a little bit of that here, Peter.

So citizens' property insurance is not run by the state government in Florida. It is backed, it is statutorily backed by Florida insurance policyholders, like any homeowner, as well as all insurance policyholders, as it does have special access because it is provided that under state law. But aren't they mismanaged? If it is that every, let's say, 10 years, you're actually having a big hurricane, and you're saying, and they're saying, well, one of those hurricanes is actually $2.3 billion that is costing the state. If you have a million, right, you have a million customers on it, right? And you're taking, I mean, you're charging, let's say, $5,000, and you're

taking half of that. That's $2.5 billion, $5,000, and you're taking half of that. That's $2.5 billion that you can actually put aside for one year. Out of that 10 years, right, as a fund for the hurricane. So isn't it that those companies are actually raping the customers afloat? Yeah. Peter, I hear what you're saying there in Orlando. It certainly is very difficult. And the math here is not quite as straightforward

as that, because the insurance companies then go out and buy insurance themselves, certainly. But Citizens is in that unique place and will say and has stated, in fact, the CEO stated that they want to be, they don't want to be competitive in the market. They want not to have the lowest rate, but that's where we are here today. Let's go to Natalia. Go ahead. You're on the radio. You've been listening in. Appreciate your patience.

Hi. Thank you for taking my call. We have a citizen's insurance, and we've had them ever since we've come down here in 2015. We've never had an issue. We've never had an issue. We've never had a claim. We live in Zone X, and we have a gorgeous live oak in front of the house, which I believe protected us from Irma. Oh, very good.

Irma kind of passes by. So this year we got an inspection from Citizens, and they are insisting that we cut down that live oak. And by the way, we do have that oak maintained every 18 months. We give it a hurricane cut. And we had our arborist who said that was the biggest mistake. who said that was the biggest mistake. He put us in with another arborist.

So we sent two different arborist reports. One was a professional arborist who said taking down the tree would be the biggest mistake. He said that even in a Category 5 hurricane, the one thing that would remain would be the tree. Well, that's quite a prediction for someone to make, you know, given the uncertain nature of Mother Nature. Let me ask you, though, do you choose to have citizens? Do you have a competitive rate? My husband called two other companies. No one's gotten back to us. No one's gotten back to you.

So you may have some other options. You just don't know quite yet. Well, if anybody will get back to us. But no, we've contacted other insurance companies. So we feel like we're being forced to go uninsured, which we can't do. Right. Yeah. And I just, I'm not sure what's going on, but I've had other people say taking down the tree would be a huge mistake. I'm sure the emotional investment, the natural investment of what that tree is, as well as what it represents there in front of your home, can only be described as enormous, I suspect.

And Talia, I wish you well, but thank you for sharing your story there for us. Ben is listening in Tampa. Ben, you are a licensed home inspector. Glad to have you listening and joining the conversation. Go ahead. You're on the radio. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yes, I am a licensed inspector here in the Tampa area, and I do probably 10 to 15 four-point wind mitigation inspections a week. just been kind of seeing firsthand, you know, quite a few people that are elderly living off of, you know, Social Security that they just can't afford these increases and, you know, quite a bit of anger and resentment and some of them planning to leave the state over it. So it's just a little bit unfortunate, but I've noticed a significant uptick in requests for four points and wind mitigations. Those requests coming in from all different types of property insurance companies, and your company is one of those that conducts it. Is that correct, Ben?

That's correct. Yeah. And usually what I've noticed is a lot of these companies like State Farm, they'll manage a citizen policy. They'll all get calls from State Farm saying, hey, can you go do this four-point wind mitigation? What are those front porch driveway conversations, balcony conversations like with those home and condominium owners these days, Ben? There's some anger out there and people trying to figure out what's going on, what's driving the cost, the increased cost. And I understand because I've got a rental property in St. Pete as well as a home in Newport Ritchie where I'm on Citizens for Both. And I've

had increases. And one thing that's a little bit disheartening is I get notices from the insurance companies saying, hey, we found you another option, a private insurance option, and here's the rate. And then in the fine print of it, they say, hey, if you don't opt out of this program, we're automatically going to switch you. Right. Yeah. That's a citizen's policy there. If you can find a competitor, well, if you can find another insurance company to write you a policy that's 20% or less above what citizens is, they're going to what they call depopulate you, take you out of citizens and put you into that private market. Ben, I appreciate you calling in and listening and sharing that perspective as a licensed home inspector, working with so many of us homeowners here in Florida and still

continuing to wrestle with the high cost of risk and property insurance here in the state. Florida Governor DeSantis has called now on the head of the state's Republican Party to step down. Christian Ziegler has resisted pressure to have him quit so far. This comes as police are investigating a complaint by a woman that he raped her. Last week, DeSantis called that accusation serious. I think he should step aside. I think he should tend to that. He's innocent until proven guilty, but we just can't have a party chair that is under that type of scrutiny. According to reports, the complaint came from a woman who had been in a consensual sexual relationship with Ziegler and his wife, Bridget, who co-founded the conservative group Moms for Liberty and is a member of the Sarasota County School Board. She has also ignored

calls for her resignation. In the meantime, if you're a registered Democrat in Florida, you won't be able to vote in March. In a presidential primary, there won't be one. The state party decided to cancel its vote because only one name would have been on the ballot, Joe Biden. And the congressional district in North Florida has withstood its latest court challenge that diminishes Black voters, according to opponents. So let's round up these political stories of the week. Valerie Crowder is along with us from our partner station WFSU in Tallahassee. Max Greenwood writes about politics for the Miami Herald. Max and Valerie, welcome to the program.

Let's begin with the Republican Party of Florida, Max. Christian Ziegler is the chairman. Remind us of why police in Sarasota are investigating him. Well, Christian Ziegler is under investigation after a woman whom him and his wife had a previous sexual encounter with accused him back in October of raping her during a private meeting at her apartment. That investigation kind of simmered under the radar for a while. It came to light last week. The Florida Center for Government Accountability first reported it. Since then, we've seen a heavily redacted police report and a search warrant affidavit for Mr. Ziegler's phone. And so that's given us most of the details we have. He says it

was a consensual encounter, and we don't know who the victim was. So he has resisted these calls for his resignation. What has he said? Well, really not a whole lot. He put out a statement last week through his attorney saying that he was cooperating with law enforcement, but that he would eventually be exonerated. Beyond that, he hasn't commented publicly. He's repeatedly ignored our request, and I think most other reporters' requests for comment on this. He sent an email to Florida Republican Party members last Saturday, I believe, again, saying that he was innocent, he had done nothing wrong, that his wife and family were sticking behind him 150%, and he would remain party chair for the time being. Let me remind folks that you're listening

to the Florida Roundup here from your Florida public radio station. Valerie Crowder with our member station in Tallahassee, WFSU. What's been the general state Republican reaction to the party chair under this kind of investigation? We'll get back to Valerie when we can. Max, party leaders have called for a meeting in December, later on this month. What could they decide? What would be the agenda? Well, you know, look, the meeting is ostensibly going to be to discuss, you know, just disciplinary action or a potential censure of Christian Ziegler. I think the most likely outcome is that the Florida Republican Party

executive committee is going to launch an investigation. The rules, the party's bylaws are a little bit unclear if and how a chairman can be removed. I've spoken to a lot of members who say that the bylaws don't allow for it at all. Others seem to think that there is a case in which he can be removed. It seems like the most likely outcome for now is there's going to be an investigation, a potential censure and discipline as in, you know, removing his current salary. But really, we're unsure. Let me move across the aisle with the controversy of Florida Democrats. No presidential primary in March. How has the party described that decision?

Well, look, Florida Democrats have more or less said that they followed their own rules. So the way this works is back in October, the Florida Democratic Party's executive board met at their quadrennial convention. And Joe Biden was the only candidate that was nominated at that convention. So the executive board signs off on that nomination, sends that name to the Florida Secretary of State. And lo and behold, there's one name who's been nominated for president. And lo and behold, there's one name who's been nominated for president. Now, the other candidates, they weren't nominated. So they say that's an unfair process. They made clear that they were candidates. The Florida Democrats have more or less said, too bad, you're too late. How about any impact on voter engagement by the party, considering that Florida Democrats won't have a primary presidential primary at least to go to? Yeah, that's kind of a strange one. I mean, primaries are in a way dress rehearsals for the big day, right?

Right. It's a way to test your your voter mobilization. It's a way to get voters engaged to get them to start paying attention. So without that, I think there is a real question. You know, if a lot of Democratic voters in Florida will simply tune out if they don't think they're going to have to go to the polls in March to vote for their presidential nominee. And so is this decision done? It's final? The Florida Democratic Party has told me that any decision right now rests with the Florida Secretary of State's office. So the Florida Secretary of State's office. So the Florida Secretary of State has until, I think, December 10th to certify those names that had been submitted by the respective political parties. But as far as the Florida Democrats go, they say they can't do anything else. Now, we are expecting a few challenges early next week from Congressman

Dean Phillips' campaign. He's one of the Democrats that is being left off the ballot. So I would expect that Monday or at least by next Wednesday. **Matt Stauffer** And the Florida Democratic Party has essentially said that they don't think there's any legal chance that this is going to change no again they say they've followed the rules to the T uh you know state law says that if a party submits one candidate that candidate automatically wins that nomination and therefore ballots won't be printed uh you know they they have a process that's been laid out for several months. Their bylaws to their defense

are available online and have been available online for many months now. So they say there's nothing else they can do. And they're confident that they are legally in the clear here. Max Greenwood with the Miami Herald. Thanks, Max.

And our apologies to Valerie Crowder. We had some technical difficulties connecting with Valerie from WFSU, our partner station in Tallahassee. We've got more to come, though, here on the Florida Roundup. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being along this week. Next week on this program, Florida lawmakers begin their new legislative session in about a month and health care is expected to be a big priority. Senate President Kathleen Pasadena wants to spend almost one

billion dollars on several initiatives including efforts to shift patients away from hospital emergency rooms. If you show up with a gunshot wound you're going in the ER, you're going in the emergency room, but if you show up with a head cold or something there's nowhere to go. If there's a clinic right there staffed with nurse practitioners and other health care providers, that makes more sense. We'll talk with the Senate president about how she wants to get more people working in health care and give Floridians more health care options. That's next week on our program. Now, some stories about Florida's environment, starting with bringing the great outdoors of the Sunshine State indoors for a different perspective. Steve Newborn with

our partner station WUSF visited an art gallery in St. Petersburg dedicated to Florida's flora and fauna. The meandering hallways leading through the Factory Art Collaborative are filled with handmade paintings and holiday gift ideas. Then you come upon the Wild Space Gallery. Tacked onto the wall is a giant blue map composed of dozens of hand-drawn squares pieced together like a puzzle to form a map of Florida. But State of Water is not a typical map. There's no sprawling cities, no clogged interstate highways, just flowing lines of aquamarine. So the only thing that's shown is the water of Florida. Carol Mickett shows off her creation before the gallery's

recent grand opening. And what's amazing is there's so much water. You even want to say, where's there even room for land? It makes you think about our state in a very, very different way. The art gallery is a centerpiece of the new headquarters of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation. The non-profit group is spearheading the preservation of a corridor to allow wildlife migration across Florida. They're racing against rampant development that threatens to isolate their territory, perhaps forever. Mallory Likes-Dimmitt is the foundation's executive director. She says highlighting the work of nationally known environmental artists like Mickett and her collaborator and husband, Robert Stackhouse,

is an attempt to make people think visually about the struggle to preserve Florida's unique natural features. I think it is pretty new for non-profit conservation groups to be hosting their own gallery and having it be so intimately tied with their mission. I don't know of too many other organizations that have integrated a gallery space with their offices. Dimmick gives me a tour of the new headquarters. The wall at the front entrance is adorned with giant depictions of a blue heron, Florida black bear, and a swallow-tailed kite. So as we walk in from outside, we come past this incredible mural from Ernesto Moranje,

and then you come into the space, and we want it to feel, you know, warm and inviting. She has transported the wild outdoors, with its interlocking webs of water and greenery, to the walls of this repurposed urban factory. This is a place where we envision all partners and people who are curious and want to learn about the wildlife corridor to feel at home. Noelle Smith is the gallery's curator. She formerly worked at the USF Contemporary Art Museum. She was drawn to come out of retirement to help promote the environmental

education that is highlighted at Wild Space. Smith points to the state of water map and says Florida's ecosystem, flush with water, makes it susceptible to environmental disasters like what happened to Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. This piece is very concerned with the idea of saltwater intrusion and the idea of fragility, vulnerability, the fact we saw what's happening in New Orleans, right, with that wedge of saltwater going up the Mississippi. Well, that can happen to us too. Mickett, the artist, said their exhibit, including a piece called Ice Cubes in Tampa Bay, is directly linked to the need to preserve a wildlife corridor in the state.

The more and more we heat up the waters, the more we heat up the atmosphere and things start shutting down, the animals in Florida will be highly impacted. Even though you don't see a Florida panther or a bear, all of that's implicit in this show. The exhibition, featuring works of Mickett and Stackhouse, is open to the public free of charge at Wild Space Gallery through January. I'm Steve Newborn in St. Petersburg. Hurricane Adelia washed away dozens of sea turtle nests when the storm surge hit the St. Petersburg area and the rest of the beaches in Pinellas County.

The storm came near the end of the nesting season, but it was still a good year for the hatchlings. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium watches over 21 miles of beaches in Pinellas County where the turtles lay their eggs and make their mounds each spring. Carly Oakley is a senior biologist with the group. They actually produce more offspring for the occasions of hurricanes and other natural disasters coming through. The aquarium helped about 12,000 hatchlings make it to the Gulf of Mexico waters this year. No one was immune to the record heat this summer. That includes shorebirds in Tampa Bay.

Chris Young has this report from WMNF. The black skimmer is one of many shorebirds in the Tampa Bay area. Shorebirds feed along the shoreline. They typically have longer legs and bills and forage by running along the shoreline and probing in the sand. But due to recent extreme heat, they're facing more of a threat. Audrey DeRose Wilson is the director of bird conservation for Audubon, Florida. In the heat, the birds need to get down to the shoreline to cool off, and this makes them more vulnerable to being disturbed by people. Other factors such as high tide and summer storms drenched beaches and

overwash in Pinellas County, wiping out many snowy plover, lees turn, black skimmer, and Wilson's plover nests. DeRose Wilson says Audubon, Florida has petitioned for protections for the Wilson's plover. We've requested that the state review the Wilson's plover. We requested that the state review the Wilson's plover for listing and potentially add it to the list of state listed species. In Tampa, I'm Chris Young. Now the summer heat warmed the ocean waters around the peninsula. Water temperatures got into the mid to high 90s in the Florida Keys, putting coral at risk. Marine scientists worked to save thousands of coral being grown in underwater nurseries, and in doing so, made a discovery. Here's senior environmental reporter at WGCU, Tom Bayless.

Colorful coral can't handle water over 87 degrees. First, they bleach white. Then, they die. So, as this summer's heat wave just kept going, divers at Mote Marine Laboratory's coral nurseries in the Florida Keys got suited up. They hauled in thousands of corals and moved them inland. To see what would happen, scientists left a few specific coral species behind. Three months later, in cooler waters, coral species behind. Three months later in cooler waters, divers were returning the corals to their underwater homes and checked on the ones left behind. Some not only survived, they thrived. Those resilient corals will be replicated. It is hoped they will pass their survival traits on to the struggling Florida's coral reef. In Fort Myers, I'm Tom Bayless.

And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. In Miami, federal officials have now stepped in after a video showing a manatee swimming alone in filthy water at the Miami Sea Aquarium. That video went viral. Romeo is the manatee.

He's in his late 60s. He's seen swimming in small circles in a small pool that's away from the public. The concrete walls of the pool are peeling paint and there's growth around the underwater perimeter. An animal advocacy posted the video on TikTok last month. He and two other manatees have a new Florida home, for now. Amy Sanchez has the story from our partner station WLRN in Miami. Federal wildlife officials teamed up with a manatee rescue organization to move three manatees out of this aquarium. The sea cows known as Romeo, Juliet, and Clarity are being transferred temporarily to Zoo Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando, two of only three critical care centers for manatees in the United States.

Romeo and Juliet were the first manatees the Miami Seaquarium rescued in 1956. They are now over 65 years old and were transported to Zoo Tampa. Clarity had been kept at the Seaquarium since 2009 after she was rescued due to watercraft-related injuries. She has been transferred to SeaWorld Orlando. The move comes weeks after federal inspectors issued a report citing Miami Seaquarium for allegedly deficient animal care and poor tank conditions. I'm Amy Sanchez in Miami. Finally in the roundup this week, disgusted and infuriated. That's how Florida

State football coach Mike Norvell described his feelings after the team was not selected by the college football playoff committee last weekend. It means the team, which is undefeated and won the ACC championship, will not get a chance to play for a national championship. Here's the coach on ESPN a couple of days later. You know, I was just hurt for our players. He certainly wasn't alone. Senator Rick Scott wrote a letter to the chairman of the Playoff Selection Committee calling it a shocking decision and requesting information on how each member voted and any communications, emails, and text messages between the committee members and others. Governor DeSantis even earmarked some money in his new budget in case there are legal challenges. We're setting aside a million dollars for any litigation expenses

that may become as a result of this really, really poor decision by the college football playoffs. And the Hardy County Sheriff said his police cars would even change the colors of their lights to red and amber, matching FSU's colors. Now, he also noted that the Sheriff's Department doesn't actually have red and amber lights, saying it's the thought that counts. Despite the snub, FSU did welcome back to campus a national championship this week. The Lady Knolls soccer team lifted the championship trophy after beating Stanford 5-1. It's the team's fourth national championship in the past decade. Here's FSU President Richard McCullough celebrating with the team.

I don't think there's a women's soccer team in this United States that can even be on the same field with these people. They're unbelievable. At least one undefeated FSU team got the respect it deserves. This is our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF Public Media in Tampa. Bridget O'Brien produced our program. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and the program's Technical Director is Peter Mayers.

Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson and Charles Michaels. Richard Ives answers the phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Libos at aaronlibos.com. If you missed any of today's program, you can download it and listen to past programs as well at wlrn.org slash podcasts. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all, supporting public radio in your community. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.