The Florida Roundup - Who is in charge of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’? Property insurance reforms and weekly news briefing 

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke about the new immigrant detention center in the Everglades with Rep. Anna Eskamani (00:00) and spoke about the contractors who have been hired to operate the facility with Bob Norman of the Florida Trident (09:20). Then, we were joined by former state senator Jeff Brandes about property insurance reform (19:14). And later, a roundup of news from across the state including an outlook for the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season (29:18), an update on Florida’s ban on homeless encampments six months out (41:22), and the battle between basketball and pickleball continues in Fort Lauderdale (43:12).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being with us. Florida has taken a lead role among states in passing laws and taking actions to support President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement goals. The state's immigration law has been put on hold. The U.S. Supreme Court supported that pause as the law is challenged in court. And then there's the detention camp set up in the Everglades on an airport commandeered from its owner, Miami-Dade County, by the state. This week, County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wrote a letter asking for more oversight. I called on the state to give the county

monitoring access to Alligator Alcatraz. She sent letters to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The county mayor wants video monitoring, weekly reports on the site conditions and regular access to the camp. Given its environmental importance and growing concerns about dangerous conditions at these facilities, transparency with our community is essential. The spokesman for the Florida Attorney General wrote on X quote, no, no, and no. Any questions? End quote. A group of five state lawmakers want to see the facility for themselves.

They tried to visit a week ago and were turned away. They've been invited back on Saturday and they filed a lawsuit this week claiming the governor and the state emergency management director overstepped their authority by not allowing them into alligator Alcatraz last week. One of those lawmakers joins us now. Representative Ana Escamani is the Democrat representing District 42 in the Orlando area. Representative, welcome back to the Florida Roundup. Nice to have you.

Thank you so much for having me back. So have you accepted the state's invitation to visit the facility on Saturday? We will be going to the Everglades Attended Facility tomorrow, knowing that it's likely going to be a sanitized and curated tour. I do feel like it's important to exercise whatever access that we have as lawmakers as the concerns from this facility, both environmental and humanitarian, are so grave that we really can't ignore opportunities to be on site. So I will be there alongside, of course, fighting in court to ensure that we have the ability to visit unannounced.

What have you been told to expect from the tour on Saturday? Absolutely nothing. In fact, I have sent several questions to the Florida Department of Emergency Management requesting clarity on the tour, asking if we're allowed to take photos and videos, if we can talk to detainees. Obviously, we're planning out what our hopes are of the experience, including being able to do those things and more. But to be honest, my expectations are low. I did receive a message today from a pastor who has a conger that's being detained

that for the first time all week, detainees have been given a shower. And I suspect there are improvements being made as we speak because of our visit tomorrow. How long those improvements will last is one of the concerns that I have, which is why we continue to demand the ability to have unfettered access. Representative, you mentioned you have some hopes for your tour. What are those hopes?

What will you be looking for? What areas are on your list that you want to be able to walk through to see? Well, first of all, we need clarity on who actually is in charge. When I made the attempted visit with four other lawmakers last week, we were met with people from multiple different state agencies and it was very unclear who's actually managing this facility. Well let me stop you right there for a second. It is the state of Florida, ultimately.

Is that correct? Is that your understanding? Not the federal government, not ICE? Well, that's the question that we need clarity on. The federal government is distanced itself from this attention center, though we know President Trump was on site and fully supports the initiative. But my understanding is that the federal government is attempting to do that because of the environmental lawsuit on federal law challenging the existence of this detention center and essentially the federal government with Florida are trying to create a loophole. So are you

saying that that perhaps the state of Florida is not in control of this facility in the Everglades? I think as it pertains to the chaotic environment on the ground it's hard to know what agency is actually in charge. You know, FDM expresses at this point almost the role... That's the Department of Emergency Management in Florida. Correct. They almost express the role as the manager of this facility, even though I think they should be more concerned about preparing for hurricanes. But on site, you will see state employees from multiple agencies. You know, we were first stopped by a DFS employee, which is the Department of Financial Services. Of course, we then interacted with

FDLE, Florida Department of Law Enforcement. And when I asked questions, for example, to the Emergency Management Department of how are you reporting the location of detainees to the public? Are you using the ICE locator? No clear answer. How are attorneys able to contact their clients? No clear answer. Are you preventing flooding or do you have a hurricane evacuation plan? No clarity.

So those are some of the questions that I am seeking answers for alongside of course, you know, we know that right now this is a project that was going to cost over $450 million in taxpayer money and to no bid contract environment. So contracts are going to companies that have close ties to the Sanchez administration. So those are all questions that I have made many requests of. And of course, I've done my own public records request as well. Yeah. We'll be talking more about those contracts with the reporter who's been looking into that

in just a couple of moments. So Representative Ana Escamani is with us, a Democrat from the Orlando area. She is one of the five state lawmakers who have been invited to visit the alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility near Big Cypress National Preserve on Saturday. She is just telling us she has accepted that invitation, is going. You also sued the governor and the emergency management director this week, alleging that they overstepped their constitutional authority. A spokeswoman for the governor called the lawsuit frivolous and quote dumb. Any response? This is the type of cartoonish behavior that we're dealing with every single day

in the state of Florida. We're not operating with any type of good faith actor or individuals who care about good government. All they care about is a political agenda that is extreme, that ignores environmental concerns, let alone, of course, the constitution alongside the health and well-being of those the state has taken under its responsibility. So obviously, the response from the state is disappointing because as state lawmakers, we do have not just a statutory authority to visit state facilities, but it's our duty. So let's talk about this here because the DeSantis administration argued that the facility

is not a correctional facility and thus not subject to unannounced visits by lawmakers. That was part of the rationale after you were turned away last week. You claim in this lawsuit that in fact this facility fits the definition of a correctional facility, which under a state statute is, quote, any prison, road camp, prison industry, prison forestry camp, or any prison camp or prison farm or other correctional facility. So in other words, I guess, Representative, do you consider this a prison in the Everglades? I think it's important to stress that as state lawmakers, we're able to visit not just state correctional institutions, but also private prisons managed by private contracts alongside,

of course, local jails and juvenile detention centers. I was just at the Orange County Jail a few days ago. And so it does fall under our statutory authority. And I think the other question too that's worthy of exploration is is if you have nothing to hide, why are you hiding? At the end of the day, these are our tax dollars being used to build this facility. You are detaining individuals that with no due process and the structure does mimic that of a correctional institution. So we're going to, of course, bail this out in court, But I think it's important as state lawmakers to exercise our responsibility

as a co-equal branch of government, not just on detention centers, mind you. We also have the ability to visit public schools unannounced. Of course, you have Department of Health officials that visit restaurants and medical facilities. It's pretty normal to exercise any exercise this type of spontaneous oversight. And the state's denial of that should raise eyebrows.

Representative Ana Escamani is a Democrat representing parts of the Orlando area. Representative, thanks so much for your time today. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Well, millions of dollars worth of contracts to set up and operate the detention center have been signed. Contract for propane gas, for instance, a contract for diesel fuel, a contract for security, a contract to build a guardhouse. Bob Norman is with us now, senior editor at Florida Trident. Bob, thanks for joining us.

Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. So, back to where the representative conversation started. What's your understanding about who's in charge of this detention center? The state of Florida is in charge. And I think that's by design. If you look at the plan that Governor of DeSantis introduced in May, the plan always was that Florida would

almost have a shadow ICE organization that would operate with little federal oversight. In this case, you know, it appears they're going to get FEMA funding. But in the Florida legislature passed a bill giving them $300 million to hire their own sort of pseudo ICE agents. So let's say I think that, yeah, I think it's definitely the state of Florida. Before we follow the money, let's follow the signatures here. What state agency is signing contracts for the privately delivered services at the center? It's the Division of Emergency Management is signing them. And it's the it's the governor's office that is calling them orchestrating them. That's

in charge of them. That's giving them out. I mean, with little to no oversight. Yeah, so what kind of procurement process has been involved here for anyone who's dealt with government contracts in the past, and you've covered this for a long time, Bob, you know, there's generally a pretty significant process. There's lots of boxes to check before a contract gets awarded and before invoices get paid.

Well, yeah, you've got bidding requirements, you've got all sorts of procurement rules. Those are thrown out the window with alligator alcatraz, because of this emergency order to declare the state of Florida state of emergency back in January of 2023, based on immigration, based on, at that time, it was sort of centered on 300 migrants at Dry Tortugas Park.

No mention of crime, no mention of really any adverse effects on Florida, just these 300 migrants and the fact that Biden wasn't, you know, protecting the border. That emergency order has continued to be renewed since 2023. And they're renewing. Yeah. And the DeSantis first issued it, and that's the, under that auspices has set up this detention

facility. Bob Norman is with the senior editor at Florida Trident, who's been following the contracts and the money. So let's follow the money here. What companies are involved in the private services that have been contracted for Alligator Alcatraz? Well, there are several companies that I, I have no idea how many, but many companies and several of those companies are big campaign donors. And that's been reported pretty widely, you know, including the Moines CDR, which is Carlos

Stewart, who's a huge Republican fundraiser, he's got an $18 million contract to sort of run sort of oversee, it seems to me, it's hard to tell, you know, we're just going by these contracts. They're somewhat vague. I mean, describe the contracts that you've had a look at. And you've reported on one from IRG, Global Emergency Management. Yes, my colleague, Michelle DiMarco, and I did a deep dive on IRG, which is formerly ARS. And it was a very, you know, interesting dive, because what you saw is a company that, but they had a lot of problems with

companies, with actually some companies, condo associations, individuals, a lot of allegations of overcharging, of doing work that wasn't necessary. Those are, for me, the biggest problem. And I think that's a big problem. allegations, individuals, a lot of allegations of overcharging, of doing work that wasn't necessary. Those are still there. I talked to one person who considers himself a victim of this company saying they were hoping that they would be knocked out of the state. Well, this is in 2022. In 2023, they gave $100,000 to Governor DeSantis's PAC. The Political Action Committee.

Yes. And perhaps even more importantly, hired a go-to lobbyist, Ballard Partners, led by Brian Ballard, and three other lobbyists in that firm, all of whom were in this sort of revolving door between politics and lobbying, who had previously worked in the DeSantis administration. Coincidentally or not, we don't know what happened, but shortly after that, they started getting many millions of dollars in contracts. Actually, we came up with, I think, about 100 million in contracts and another 100 million in purchase orders. And that goes back well before Alligator Alcatraz, clearly. Well before.

Yeah, well before. The specific contract that you reported on with this IRG included $43,000 a day for on-site emergency services. And it's a total payment of, I think, just under $2 million. And if you do the math, essentially, it's a 45-day contract. So for those that are, you know, have been debating and trying to get answers about how long is this camp that's supposed to be temporary that the state has said, that's perhaps one indication here. But what do we know about this emergency services? I mean, what specifically are these services

that this private company has been contracted by the state of Florida to provide? Again, that's very vague. You know, you're talking about health, you know, if someone gets sick, they're going to helicopter them out to a hospital, things of that nature, I suppose, EMS services, that kind of thing. But those country, we actually put out our story last week, more than $5 million in contracts came out after we reported our story. That was one of them. The other one is for transportation services at the site. So they've already got, I think, $8 million there, but I really expect them to get a lot

more work there because they've become sort of this go-to company for the Sanis. They've flown Americans from Haiti when conditions deteriorated in that country. They did previous work just a few weeks ago, flying Americans from Israel. From Israel. They've done that. They've done, and some of it looks to be perfectly legitimate they've done and some of it, you know, looks to be perfectly legitimate in terms of their work. Milton, Hurricane Milton. But again, if you go back to the way they operate as a private company with these condo associations, that raises a lot of concerns. And I think that if anything, if anything resonates out of what we're talking about, I think what really needs to happen if anything resonates out of what we're talking about, I think what really needs to happen

is a major independent audit of these contracts, not just Alligator Alley, for all the contracts that were put out based on the state of emergency regarding immigration. And what might that be? A state inspector general in the attorney's general's office, for instance? No. In a word, no. I think it would have to be an independent by major auditing firm, one of the big five. Yeah, that's the big five. You know, just a completely independent but under the direction of who or what? That's just like, yes, the better than that may be the best. I think the legislature would have to initiate the audit.

But I think that that is so important because you look at these charges, you look at all these millions of dollars, you look at these contracts just going out seemingly almost haphazardly and with so much money. Yeah. There's so much room for waste and abuse. And the state of Florida, the governor's office and the governor has said this will ultimately be a FEMA reimbursement. What do we know about a timeline for that given the outlay of cash coming from the state

of Florida here? We don't know much about that either. I mean, the FEMA has indicated that they will reimburse, but you know, all of this is in the ether. It's just, you know, you talked to Hanna Eskamani, who wasn't allowed to inspect the facility. It's all done in secrecy and with slogans and with production value, but very little substance. And that's where we're trying to pierce that veil and dig in and figure out what's really going on here. And by the way, we will be having,

I think our next story about IRG slash ARS is going to be an eye opener about the way they operate. Quite a tease there. I'm going to plug it. All right. Yeah. We'll look for it. The Florida Trident. Bob Norman is the senior editor at that online digital news publication.

Bob, thanks so much for sharing your reporting with us here. Thank you, Tom. We're going to be talking about home insurance coming up here on the Florida Roundup. It has been a big issue for Florida voters for a good number of years. Lawmakers did not pass any substantial new home insurance laws in the latest legislative session. How has the price of protection affected your household budget? Call us now, 305-995-1800.

305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. You are listening to The Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. This is The Florida Roundup. Great to have you here with us. I'm Tom Hudson. Next week on this program, Social Security. The new spending and tax law passed by Republicans and signed into law by President Trump changes taxes for Social Security, perhaps. The president promised during his campaign to stop taxes on Social Security benefits. Now, this law does not stop taxes on Social Security benefits. Instead, it adds a tax deduction for people over the age of 65, many of whom may be collecting social security. You know, there are more than a half million Floridians who get social security payments each month. So what questions do you have about those checks and the impact of this new tax law? You can email those questions now radio at

the Florida Roundup dot org, social security questions radio at the Florida Roundup dot org. Social Security questions radio at the Florida Roundup dot org and we may use your stories next week. This week is the end of the sixth week of storm season. Twenty more to go. Over the course of fifteen weeks this spring despite it being one of the biggest issues for Floridians and opinion polls for years, state lawmakers did not pass any new significant legislation regarding home insurance. Just three years ago, the cost of home ownership hardly registered as an important survey, important issue in surveys of Floridians, but it started climbing and now one in three

people say it is the most important issue they face, home insurance costs. Yet lawmakers did not pass any new substantial insurance Legislation this year the rate of increases has slowed down a lot But Florida home and condo owners pay some of the highest insurance premiums in the country. So, how about you? What's your home insurance story 305? 995 1800 305 995 1800 there were high hopes that Lawmakers would revisit home insurance when they began the

legislative session in early March. This is Florida House Speaker Danny Perez in his opening speech calling state representatives the voice of the people. We must speak for them on the issues that matter. Property insurance matters to the people of Florida. More than 250 bills passed out of t this year to had some min insurance. Sarah Haversti

in Bradenton with their h kids. They've been homeo two years ago, they lear was not going to renew th Ian. This really felt lik like it came out of left field and we really just didn't understand why our policy was being dropped. Sarah says they never made a claim and they were in a panic to get coverage because they had a mortgage. When we did finally get new coverage, it was of course a little bit more expensive, but

we were just so grateful to have coverage again. And then another storm season rolled in and this one brought a storm closer to their home. This past year for Milton, we did have more significant damage, including the need to replace our roof. It was a little bit of a headache trying to go back and forth with insurance who initially denied the claim for the roof. Our roofing company really pushed that issue and ultimately got insurance to cover the roof. So we were able to get that replaced. And at this point, I'm just grateful that we have insurance coverage as we go into this year's hurricane season.

305-995-1800 is our phone number. My name is Henry Mims and I'm a realtor here in Palm Bay, Florida on the beautiful space coast. Insurance rates are affecting home buying, not just in pricing but in also what people are upgrading their homes to be. I've had clients from years past, a year, two years, whatever, and I have this happen about six or seven times a year, is they'll call me and say, hey, my insurance has gone up, I want to see a new carrier, do you have any people in mind? And I work very closely with a couple of insurance agent brokers, come to find out that they got switched to policies that they were around the same price as had been previously, but with a lot less, like

higher deductibles, things like that, and they didn't even realize it until they got their insurance policies audited. And insurance goes up along with other things. It kind of makes home buying a little bit more difficult. Yeah, home buying a little bit more difficult, home ownership a little bit, or a lot more expensive. Jeff Brandes is with us now, former Republican state senator from the Tampa area and with the Florida Policy Project. Senator Brandes, welcome back to the Florida Roundup. Nice to have you again. Great to be with you. Thank you for having me. Yeah, just you've

been in the trenches in lawmaking. You've seen the sausage being made in Tallahassee. Why do you think there were so many legislative hurdles to further home insurance laws this session. Were there not additional fixes that were necessary? I think there's some minor additional fixes that are definitely necessary. But I think what you saw coming out of Florida House was they actually wanted to go backwards. They were actually talking about reinstituting some of the policies the legislature had worked so hard in 2022 and 2023 to accomplish, number one, getting rid of the one-way attorney fee statute in Florida.

Florida was the only state in the country that had a one-way attorney fee statute. There's 49 other states that kind of followed what we call the American rule, which is everybody pays their own insurance fees, their own litigation fees. And so Florida was an outlier in the country to the point where we were 8% of total US property claims, but we were 80% of the litigation in the country. You can't be the most hurricane prone state and the most litigious state and expect low property insurance rates. The math doesn't work. Yeah, that was cited often as one of the contributors to the sharply rising insurance premiums that Florida homeowners- It was by far the number one contributor to the homeowners.

Listen, you could model hurricanes. You can't model litigation. And so Florida was just overwhelmed with litigation. Nobody could tell you what the hurricane was going to cost, not because of the storm damage. They understood roughly what the storm damage was going to be. It was what would the litigation post storm damage be. And so we have seen the rate of increases slow down considerably here in the state of Florida, but yet slow down from a high level, right? So instead of going 90 miles an hour

down the highway, we're now going 85. We're still going over the speed limit though, when looking at premiums in other states, even other hurricane prone states. Well, I mean, I think the positive thing is you have new companies forming in Florida. That's something we hadn't seen in years. So you had 13 companies form in Florida since 2022. Now I think that rate is going to slow because citizens has dropped its amount of policies inside of citizens. So citizens in 2022 had 1.4 million policies.

It had half a trillion dollars worth of risk on their books. And that has now come down to a level that they expect by the end of the year could be down as low as 650,000 policies. And I think you'd actually be lower than that, which is incredibly positive. One of those companies entering the market Patriot Select Property and Casualty Insurance Company, you're familiar with that name, right? Very familiar with it. You are after all of the chairman of Patriot Select Property and Casualty Insurance Company, formed kind of in the ashes of another company to help depopulate citizens, among others. What profile of homes is this company that you chair, this insurance company that you chair, what profile of homes do you want to insure in

Florida? We think that the standard homeowners policy, HO3, is what we're going to focus on to begin with, but we're going to grow into other products over time. So that's the product, but what type of homes are you looking to insure? Single family homes as HO3. Age of homes? Sorry, sorry. That's okay. Single family homes.

Yeah. Yeah. Single family homes, typically 20 to 25 years old or newer, and really looking at that 250,000, all the way up to really $2.5 million of homes. Any roof age requirements that you're looking to put into your policies? Yeah. We have certain roof age requirements, but obviously we're a growing company. We're a brand new company in Florida, and we're excited, along with the 13 other companies,

to join the marketplace and provide coverage to Floridians. The great thing about our team is I've hired probably one of the most experienced management teams in the state, but we're really excited about growing the company. We're really excited about the opportunities in the Florida marketplace, and there's plenty of room for growth and competition. That's frankly what's going to drive down prices in Florida. And I don't think you are looking for policies in Monroe County, the Florida Keys, but what about the 66 other counties?

Any that you moved away from? No. No, we're not looking. We're a brand new company growing in the state with an incredibly experienced management team and plenty of reinsurance. We are excited about growing into this Florida marketplace. Jeff Brandes is with us, former state senator, so former legislator and lawmaker, was in the trenches making laws around insurance regulation. Now he's with Florida Policy Project

and is the chairman of a new home property insurance company, Patriot Select Property. So lots of different angles here, Jeff, to speak with you about and lots of Floridians want to talk. Lisa has been patient on line two in Tampa. Lisa, go ahead. You're on the radio. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I just thought this was a good venue to talk about what I've been going through. I've been in my home for four years and my insurance went up from $3,000 to $7,000 this year. So it was an unexpected expense. The amount makes it so that I'm almost not able to stay in my home. And then when I was trying to negotiate everything with the insurance company, I found out that I'd been put in a, it's called an excess and surplus lines carrier.

Basically, it's a high risk policy. So in order to actually cancel my policy, I have to pay 50% of the premium, which is just not something I can do right now. So I'm kind of stuck where I am and I've been trying to talk to anybody who will listen to try to get the issue fixed. Well we got an insurance chairman and a former legislator here. Jeff what do you make of Lisa's predicament there? First just more than doubling of an insurance premium, then of course, feeling locked into

the situation she's in now. Well, I think it shows you what was going on in the Florida marketplace. So when you don't have enough admitted carriers writing in a marketplace, you get what they call excess and surplus lines, these ENS carriers that come in and write. And ENS carriers are unregulated carriers. They don't have to follow the same rules that admitted carriers have to follow in the state. And this is why it's so positive that you have new entrants coming in that are admitted carriers into Florida. In her situation, she probably has to

wait a certain amount of time before she can cancel that policy and get the remaining portion of her premium back. But I think the positive news is she should be able to contact her agent, ask to be placed with an admitted carrier, understand what the market is for admitted carriers in our marketplace. Listen, the Tampa Bay market is one of the most challenging markets. Tampa Bay, Miami are really the two most challenging markets, really, in Florida for property insurers. But we're seeing new companies come in. They have capacity.

And this will push E&S carriers out of the marketplace. So the phrase that Lisa should talk to her agent about is an admitted carrier. She's looking for coverage from an admitted carrier. Is that accurate? That's correct. And there's a lot of benefits that go along with being an admitted carrier. Number one being that they have FIGA protection, which is the Florida Insurance Guarantee Association. If an E&S carrier fails to pay your claim and goes

bankrupt, then there is essentially no protection out there for you. Think of it like as an FDIC insurance policy on your bank account. Florida has the FIGA, which will pay a portion of that claim if your insurance company goes bankrupt. Let me ask you a question about the business structure of the company you are chair of, Patriot Select Property. Any special dividend structure or other incentives for executives or investors? Nothing special, nothing radical like you've seen in the news with some of the other carriers. Nothing outside of Florida for a subsidiary that's based out of Florida? No, no. So we're a Florida-based company. 100%. All subsidiaries. based out of no, no. So we're a Florida based company, we're 100% also, right? Correct. Only to write in Florida. And and to grow

our company in Florida, we love this state, I think you I think the state deserves a carrier that is focused on the state of Florida, with executives have deep experience in the state of Florida. Jeff Brandis is with us former state senator from the Tampa area Florida policy project. Now he's a Republican and also the chair of Patriot select property a home property insurance company one of the new ones making its way in the state of Florida a Sarah in Jacksonville email this insurance on my nearly 100 year old historic home has nearly doubled

every year since I bought it in 2019 that year year, the insurance cost $1,800. Today, I pay over $12,000 a year for the same coverage. I haven't had any claims," Sarah writes. In addition, twice I had to scramble to get coverage after new insurers dropped me during the three-month period when such action is permissible and without cause. These yearly hikes have gotten to the point where I have to consider selling the home. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Carmen has been listening into our conversation also in Jacksonville. Go ahead, Carmen.

You're on the radio. Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the call. I just wanted to make the note that we had recently, which was on July 1st, received a letter letting us know that homes that are over 10 years of age with a flat roof other than concrete are not eligible for coverage. Did not know that. So we are tasked with not being renewed

come January, so we have until then to find a new local carrier as we're instructed in the letter to do, and didn't know what other options there were. I didn't realize flat roofs were not covered if they were older than 10 years. Yeah. Carmen, appreciate that call from Jacksonville. Jeff, just to clarify, Carmen, it's not that there's a state law that bans flat roofs from being insured if they're older than 10 years. It's that the insurance carrier that Carmen has has decided that's the cutoff. Would that be your read on that? That's correct. Yeah, absolutely. It's a carrier specific, and carriers do this all the time.

They look at their overall kind of risk portfolio and they're constantly kind of figuring out what risks they want to play in, what risks they don't want. They're looking at zip codes that they need to turn on and zip codes they need to turn off because they get over allocated in certain zip codes. And that's the responsible thing that you want a carrier to do. But it also helps that you have a growing marketplace in Florida with 13 new carriers coming online that can take up some of that slack and may have less restrictive guidelines. Those new carriers want to take the risk of a flat roof over 10 years old or a- They may.

Sure. They may. But these are new companies that may have limited capital, and so they may not be wanting to go after some of those riskier policies that more established companies have turned away from. That's correct. So it really depends. But more carriers is better, right?

It's better to have 13 new carriers entering the marketplace, looking to expand their markets and grow than it is to frankly be forced into citizens property insurance and with no other options. And this is the positive sign that's going on in Florida. And I think this is the key thing

about the legislative session, right? We've always said, in fact, when I was a legislator, we always told the legislature, look, when you make changes to the insurance market, it takes about 24 months for those to work themselves through. We are now at that 24 month period. And I can tell you from what we're seeing, rates are going to start coming down. If there are no major storms this year, you are going to see rates get much more competitive in Florida. Yeah. So let me, let me parse that a little bit, Your Honor here. Rates could be competitive, but they may not necessarily go down, right? So they may go up less. But you're saying you think that the rates are actually going to people's premiums, not the rate, but the premium they pay

is actually going to go down. The rate will make, yeah, correct. I think the rate, and ultimately potentially the premium goes down. The challenge you have in Florida is these home prices don't. The underlying asset. Right. Yeah. The underlying asset continues to rise. The cost to replace and repair these homes continues to go up. We don't know what's going to happen with tariffs.

We don't know what the impacts of ICE raids on labor is going to be in Florida. Your insurance company doesn't know that. Insurance is a unique product, right? The carrier is selling you a policy, but he actually doesn't know what the cost of that policy is he's selling. He believes he knows until probably 18 to 24 months after he actually sold that policy. So it's a unique product in the marketplace where we don't know what our costs of goods sold are. And the math here is important because as you mentioned, the insurance rate could actually

drop. You could see a negative rate, but the premium when you open up that envelope could go up because- Because the replacement cost is gone. Because the replacement cost, right? The home value has gone up. The cost of the wood or the shingles or the asphalt or whatever it may be. Or labor. Or labor. All of this is going up. Yeah, well, that would be the big one here. Yeah, yeah. Listen, Jeff, always appreciate your transparency and clarity and conversation with us. I know we'll catch up very soon.

My pleasure. The market's improving. Things are getting better in Florida, and let's hope we have no storms this year. Well. But things are getting better. Amen to that. Jeff Brand is a former Republican state senator from the Tampa area with Florida Policy Project. He's also the chairman of a new home insurance company, Patriot Select Property and Casualty Insurance. Keep those

questions coming. We are always monitoring our inbox. In fact, next week we'll be speaking with the Florida House Speaker Danny Perez. So if you have a question for him, email radio at the floridaroundup.org. We got plenty more to come. I'm Tom Hudson. This is the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. The deadly flash floods over the Fourth of July holiday in Texas have brought forth unimaginable stories of tragedy for the families and communities involved, an examination of weather forecasting and warning systems, and talk about the fate of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management

Agency. For months now, the Trump administration has been clear about its desire to do away with the current structure of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA's not good. That was the president in late January on his first official trip after being sworn back into office. His first stop was to view damage left by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. He then signed an executive order creating a council to review the Federal Emergency Management Agency,

and the president was clear about the conclusion he's looking for. I think we're going to recommend that FEMA go away. A few weeks later, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this to CNN. I would say yes, get rid of FEMA the way it exists today. And in May, FEMA Acting Administrator Cam Hamilton appeared on Capitol Hill before a House committee. He though was not echoing the president's sentiments. As the senior advisor to the president on disasters and emergency management and to

the secretary of homeland security, I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the federal emergency management agency. One day later, Hamilton was fired. In this week after the Texas flood, White House spokeswoman Caroline Levin was asked about the future of FEMA. The president wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need. She was vague as to whether President Trump still wants FEMA to quote, go away, as he said in January,

whether that assistance comes from states, or the federal government, that's a policy discussion that will continue. And the president has always said he wants states to do as much as they can, if not more. Of course, all this matters for Floridians as hurricane season stretches on here. And we did get some better news this week about storm season. A team of experts from Colorado State University, which releases a widely used annual forecast, downgraded its outlook as the season wears on. They had been predicting an above average season. Now they're calling for

a slightly above normal hurricane season, thanks to predicted high levels of Caribbean shear. So it's not a huge shift in predicted storms, but it is a little. Still, and say this with me, it only takes one. While we're talking about the weather, a former director of a federal government meteorology lab warned this week that proposed funding cuts threaten making hurricane forecasts better. Robert Atlas is a former director of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorology

Laboratory. Previously, there had been no improvement in hurricane intensity forecasting. Forecasting the intensity of hurricanes, where they will make landfall, and being able to extend the forecast lead time on those is extraordinarily important. The Trump administration has proposed cutting $2.2 billion from NOAA beginning in October with the new fiscal year. That would eliminate the agency's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. And finally, this weather-related note, there's a new law in Florida that allows cities to set up slow-speed areas on flooded roads. Now, we have no wake zones on our waterways. So these would be on our roadways when they're covered with water. If you live

in an area that floods, you know, this is a real thing. Cars and trucks hit the water, the waves pile up crashing into homes. Kevin Batdorf is the president of the Shore Acres Civic Association in St. Petersburg, which is where this idea for the new law started. You're causing more damage, not only to your own vehicle driving through saltwater, but to people's homes. And we're talking thousands and thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands per house.

It's crazy. It's been a little over six months now since Florida's law banning camping and sleeping in public spaces took full effect. But how effective has it been in reducing homelessness in the Orlando area, which has had one of the highest numbers of people experiencing homelessness? Well, Lillian Hernandez-Carabaggio reports now from our partner Central Florida Public Media. This year, for the first time since 2019, several Central Florida counties showed a decrease in their homelessness count for legislators

like Republican Florida House Representative Chase Tremont of Volusia County. That means it's working. The goal was to protect taxpayers and protect residents to walk around taxpayer funded property quality of life policy th in public places is the g can do to homeless person that you're encouraging t

But homeless service worke don't necessarily mean th better. Chris Ham is the executive director of the rescue outreach mission, a homeless shelter in Seminole County, and says the reason for that decrease is uncertain. We're not sure. We think it's the anti-camping. We don't know if people were more reticent to talking to volunteers because of some of that. We do know that homelessness has not gone down. We know th

of homelessness is still or attainable housing in we're still seeing people staff agree the camping b of urgency and that more last year to address homl been done in the last 10 I'm Lilian Hernandez Caraballo.

Lillian is a Report for America Corps member. And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. That's an if you know, you know kind of sound, isn't it? Pickleball Last week we told you about the debate between pickleball players and basketball players over iconic courts on Fort Lauderdale Beach. The courts had been for dribblers, jump shot artists, and slam dunk attempts for years but the thwack plunk will soon be heard instead. Leo Lorenz has been playing basketball there for a while. I have more friends that I've developed over the last 15 years from these courts than I have in the whole 30 years that I've been

living down in South Florida. And that's priceless. Plans between the city of Fort Lauderdale and developers for a resort across the street from the courts were okayed a year and a half ago. Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Steve Glassman said that unless both the city and developers agree, nothing's going to change. They admit it very clear that they will not agree to any changes. And it's pretty much evident in the agreement that both parties have to agree. Finally on the roundup this week, back to where we started. The immigration detention camp near Big Cypress National Preserve, where Florida's wild spaces

intersect with immigration enforcement. It may cost more for international visitors to walk among the alligators and unhingas in Everglades National Park just south of alligator Alcatraz. President Donald Trump wants to charge foreign tourists more than Americans to international parks. The national parks will be about America first. We're going to take it America first for the national parks. This is Trump in Iowa on July 3rd, the same day he signed the executive order. To fund improvements and enhance experiences across the park system for this anniversary, I've just signed an executive order to raise entrance fees for foreign tourists while keeping prices

low for Americans. The directive impacts Everglades National Park in South Florida. The park currently charges $35 per vehicle for one day and that covers the driver and all passengers. Entry fees were last raised in 2020. Everglades National Park's list of deferred maintenance totaled $184 million. South and Southwest Florida rank high for international tourists. More than 22% of overnight visitors to Miami-Dade County last year were from overseas. It was about 12% in Collier County. And then there's this, and I know this is not the biggest issue with the detention center.

It really shouldn't register as an issue at all, And I know this is not the biggest issue with the detention center. It really shouldn't register as an issue at all, but the Alcatraz of the alligator Alcatraz name seems to me to be linguistically reckless. Yes, I know it is meant to refer to the former federal prison in San Francisco Bay located on Alcatraz Island. That hunk of rock in the Pacific got its name from an old Spanish word for seabirds, alcatraces, likely referring to pelicans that nest there. So alligators in this part of the Everglades where the detention center is? Definitely yes. But alcatraces? Well, I called up

Jerry Lorenz. Jerry spent more than three decades studying birds in the Everglades. Are there pelicans in the Florida Everglades? Yes, there are two species of pelican that frequent the Everglades, but they are both more coastal. As far as in the big cypress go, other than seeing these birds flying over, I have not seen them foraging, nesting, or conducting any other activities except for flyovers. And how much time have you spent in this part of the Everglades where this jetport tent city has been erected? I have spent a great deal of time. I spent five years doing a study of the fishes of the Big Cypress Swamp for Everglades restoration

activities. I also spent, or my team spent, I supervised them, three or four years doing an inventory of the fishes of the Big Cypress Swamp. So we frequented that part of the swamp pretty frequently because it had road access. Dr. Lorenz, as you were researching fish, might it be possible you missed the pelicans in the sky as you were looking down into the water? It's possible. It could also have been, I was under the canopy when they flew over, but no.

The whole reason we study fish is when they flew over. But no, you know, the whole reason we study fish is when they get concentrated to look at the birds that forage there. And no, we would have seen the birds foraging in that habitat if they were there. Okay, so no pelicans in this part of the Everglades. But a spokesman for the Florida Attorney General has said that the facility at the Dade Collier Training and Transport Airport, which has the airport code TNT, is officially known as Alligator Alcatraz. That is our program for today. It is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Bridgette O'Brien and Denise Royal. WLN's Vice President of Radio is Peter Merz. The program's technical director is MJ Smith. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay, and Jackson Hart. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist

Aaron Leibos at aaronleibos.com. Get in touch with us by sending an email. Our address is radio at the floridaroundup.org. We love to hear what's on your mind. You can share all of our episodes by searching for the podcast, The Florida Roundup, on the NPR app. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all, supporting public media in your neighborhood. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.