TAMPA - Millions of Floridians today should find out whether their homeowners insurance company wants to raise or lower their rates.

By Monday, homeowners insurers were required to turn in their rate requests for 2008 to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. The agency is expected to release results from those filings today.

Many Floridians may need to brace themselves for increases. Late Friday, two Allstate subsidiaries, Allstate Floridian Insurance Co. and Allstate Floridian Indemnity Co., filed documents seeking rate increases of 42 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Combined, the two Allstate companies insure about 378,000 homeowners in the state.

The state's largest private insurer, State Farm, was expected to file documents Monday on its proposed rates, but it had not done so by 6:30 p.m. State Farm has more than 1 million homeowner policies in Florida. A State Farm spokesman, Justin Glover, could not explain the late filing Monday afternoon.

Tom Zutell, a spokesman for the Office of Insurance Regulation, said the agency will review each rate request before approving or rejecting it. He said the agency was "curious" about why Allstate thinks it needs to increase premiums so much, and he promised the agency would look hard at its evidence. The agency has issued subpoenas to several insurance companies, seeking justification for their price increases.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Legislature have been deeply disappointed by insurers' failure to cut rates as much as expected.

To much fanfare, the Legislature in January expanded the state's Hurricane Catastrophe Fund by $12 billion. The fund provides backup insurance, or "reinsurance," to insurance companies at a cheaper price than the private market.

They expected that to save insurance companies millions of dollars and that savings could be passed on to homeowners.

Adam Shores, an Allstate spokesman, said the company bought reinsurance from Florida's catastrophe fund, but it needed additional reinsurance from private sources.

The company needs enough money in place to withstand two 1-in-100 year catastrophic events, as well as additional operating capital, Shores said.

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By MICHAEL SASSO The Tampa Tribune

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