The state Office of Insurance Regulation announced this morning it has reached an agreement with State Farm to reduce rates by an additional 2 percent in Florida, pay the state $1.5 million in attorney fees and refund $23 million in excess surcharges.

The additional 2 percent reduction comes on top of the 7 percent rate decrease State Farm implemented in the spring. The additional reduction will result in approximately $23 million in savings to their policyholders.

A copy of the settlement is here, or read the rest of the release after the jump.

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Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink co-authored a Washington Post op-ed piece today outlining global warming’s effect on the insurance industry.

With Montana state auditor John Morrison, Sink cautioned federal lawmakers to do something to address climate change because it is threatening the industry’s survival.

“Insurance as we know it is threatened by a perfect storm of rising weather losses, rising global temperatures and more Americans living in harm’s way,” the op-ed quotes Andrew Logan, insurance director of the Ceres Investor coalition that represents $4 trillion in market capital.

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House Speaker Marco Rubio met with reporters this afternoon and questions covered a range of topics, including property taxes. The West Miami Republican invited the press to a meeting he has tomorrow where he will potentially discuss the campaign to support the tax amendment on the Jan. 29 ballot and possibly give a glimpse of how he will approach the issue during the annual spring session next year.

Rubio smiled and said he didn’t want to give away too many details.

On other topics,

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Although he is an avid angler, Gov. Charlie Crist said he and Office of Insurance Regulation Commissioner Kevin McCarty are not on a fishing expedition to snag insurers, as some industry representatives have charged.

McCarty was right to postpone a State Farm rate hike hearing, previously scheduled for today, because industry insiders were not forthcoming in their responses to McCarty’s subpoenas, Crist said.

“The commissioner’s opportunity with the subpoena power will give him a greater chance to have some straight answers about what the industry is doing with the huge profits that they’re making,” Crist said.

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House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber asked Gov. Charlie Crist this afternoon to include property insurance issues in the legislature’s third special session of the year, which starts Sept. 18 and so far is focused on the state’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall.

Saying “clearly the property insurance wars have commenced,” Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said lawmakers should revisit the topic that forced their first special session of the year. Gelber wants to sell more state-backed re-insurance and prohibit insurance companies from buying re-insurance from parent companies.

Crist called insurers “greedy” on Tuesday and threatened legal action against companies that do not lower premiums to meet new state laws.

Instead of the 24 percent average cut expected after the January special session, state officials said 36 of 47 insurers have sought rate increases averaging 37 percent.