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As lawmakers in Tallahassee work to come up with a compromise bill to lower insurance premiums, one thing seems certain… the state is getting a lot deeper into the insurance business. Lawmakers have agreed to expand the state-run Citizens Insurance Company. It would no longer be limited to hurricane coverage and could sell more profitable types of insurance. Lawmakers have also agreed to use state dollars to provide re-insurance for private firm. Critics say this plan puts the state at financial risk. But Senate Insurance Committee chairman Bill Posey says they can’t afford not to act.

“When you have people in the hotel business that have six, eight, 900 percent increase in their rates… and have to double their room rates to pay their insurance… and people can not afford to pay double the room rate. So that people don’t fly down here. They don’t rent our cars and pay our taxes. They don’t buy our gas and pay our taxes. They don’t eat in our restaurants. They don’t shop in our stores and shop in our malls. You see a big negative impact coming to this state.”

Negotiators from the house and senate hope to have a final compromise on Sunday that can be approved by the legislature on Monday.