SWFL lawmakers didn’t vote whether to hold special session on property insurance, called by Gov.

A poll sent to Florida lawmakers to initiate a special session on property insurance failed, but Governor Ron DeSantis is calling one anyway.

Homes in Florida are beautiful, but they do not come cheap to insure.

“Yeah, look, I think this has had has hit critical mass, it is absolutely a crisis. I mean, I hear from some of the senior citizens in my district who are paying more for homeowners insurance than they’re paying for their mortgage,” said North Fort Myers Representative Spencer Roach.

On Monday, Republican Representative Roach said that he supports a special session of the legislature on property insurance reform.

If that is the case, why did he, along with all the Southwest Florida lawmakers, decline to vote yes or no for a special session?

“I don’t actually recall receiving any information on the on the poll to vote on this or not,” said Roach.

Naples Representative Adam Botana said he didn’t get anything either.

Even if both representatives received the information about the poll, it would not have mattered. Governor DeSantis has the power to call a special session himself and signaled he would call one before the deadline for the poll.

“So, at that time, I didn’t feel like it was necessary to check any box or anything along those lines,” said Botana.

DeSantis called the special session for May.

Political scientist Aubrey Jewett said May couldn’t come soon enough for most folks.

“I think for a lot of voters, a bread-and-butter economic issue, like property insurance rates, not being able to afford it, in some cases, not being able to find it, even if you’re willing to pay a lot. I mean, that is going to hit people’s pocketbooks. And they’re a lot more concerned about that, than they are about some of these social wedge issues,” said Jewett.