The Florida House just approved a bill that would cap annual property insurance increases at 10 percent for Citizens policy holders. But the 80-35 vote didn’t come easy.

Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, tried to blow up the bill (HB 1495) with a series of amendments he said would force the state to be more honest about the risks associated with the state-run insurer.

“I don’t know why I waste my breath, but I’m not going to be hushed,” Hays said, saying his fellow Republicans should be “embarrassed” by the bill.

At one point during debate, Hays called “bull-crap” three times on House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton. Hays’ microphone was not on and Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, pulled Hasner away from the confrontation.

After the vote, Hays then confronted Reps. Dean Cannon and Will Weatherford, who are expected to eventually succeed Larry Cretul as the top Republican in the House. Hays pointed at the pair several times, while staffers stood in front of the group, trying to block the view from the press gallery.

Eventually, the conversation moved to the side of the chamber, where Hays received a talking-to from Cretul and House Sergeant Ernie Sumner.

Today is supposed to be the state legislature’s “Sine Die,” a Latin term signaling the final adjournment in session.

But while lawmakers failed to reach a budget agreement in time for today, they will have to wrap up all non-budget issues. (Lawmakers will return to the Capitol for a final budget vote on Thursday.)

The Florida Senate this morning approved an average increase of 5 percent for Citizens Property Insurance premiums, setting up a showdown with the House, where a proposal would let rates jump 20 percent.

The Senate bill (SB 1950) was approved 34-2. South Florida Sens. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, and Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, voted against it.

The bill was significantly amended Monday by Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, to cut the cap on rate increases in half. Customers of the state-run insurer have not had a rate increase in three years.

“God bless him,” Gov. Charlie Crist said of Fasano this morning. “Obviously, when you’re in a tough economy, if there is less of an increase, that’s better for the people.”

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UPDATE: Senate President Jeff Atwater sent word through his spokeswoman that “20 percent is too much.”

Gov. Charlie Crist said the main property insurance bill in the legislature had little chance of passing, calling the proposed 20 percent cap for increases to individual Citizens policy holders “excessive” and questioning whether the measure would get past Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach.

“As I’m sure you know, Atwater was one of the strongest leaders in giving us the opportunity to strengthen Citizens,” Crist said. “So I don’t know if that’s going to go very far.”

The proposal is expected to contain several changes, including one that would use the state pension fund to loan $2 billion to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund in the event of a major storm.

Crist said he wasn’t wild about that one, either.

“Getting some backup from the federal government, I think, is a better way to go,” Crist said. “I think it’s very doable.”

Last year, Crist and the Cabinet paid Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway $224 million for a promise to loan the state $4 billion if a major storm hit the state. This year, Crist and the Cabinet are appealing to the federal government. More on that attempt here.

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A property insurance proposal from Rep. Bryan Nelson, R-Orlando, and Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, would lift a recommendation from the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Mission Review Task Force and increase rates from the state-run insurer by a statewide average of 10 percent and up to 20 percent for individual policy holders.

The plan, expected to be unveiled in respective committee hearings this week, would also:

* Reduce the capacity of the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund by $12 billion over six years, which could result in Citizens and private insurers raising the cost of property policies. State officials estimate an average annual increase of 3 percent.

*Allow the state to borrow $2 billion from the state pension fund to back up the catastrophe fund in event of a hurricane.

* Use $26 million from the proposed Citizens increases to pay for My Safe Home Florida, which helps homeowners finance new storm windows and fortified roofs.

More here.

Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Michael Shaw told The Palm Beach Post that lawmakers should let Citizens premiums increase by as much as needed to make the state-run insurer financially sound.

“Whatever the number is that Citizens needs to be at to be actuarially sound, that’s what I advocate,” Shaw said. (Listen here.)

A Citizens task force said that number could be as much as 30 percent statewide. CFO Alex Sink said making Citizens “actuarially sound” could mean a 60 percent jump for some homeowners along the coast, but that lawmakers should aim for less.

“We’ve got to start somewhere,” she said. “We can’t bite off the whole apple, but we’ve got to start beginning to take little bites to get Citizens more on a sound financial footing.”

With lawmakers ready to let a three-year rate freeze expire, Shaw said that he wasn’t asking legislators to cap that increase at a specific number.

He said he didn’t want anyone’s premium to increase, but that a Citizens hike was a “good thing” for homeowners with private insurance policies who are subsidizing those with policies from the state-run insurer.

The Citizens Mission Review Task Force has suggested capping increases at statewide average of 10 percent.

While a three-year freeze on rates from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. expires this year, the state-run insurer is in the midst of reassessing 350,000 coastal properties with wind-only coverage, Post reporter Jeff Ostrowski writes today.

Thanks to a rate freeze that took effect in 2006 and lasts through this year, Citizens policyholders have enjoyed a respite from big jumps in their bills. But homeowners like Baker are seeing premiums soar anyway as the insured value of their property is reassessed.

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“This is in no way a way around the rate freeze,” said Citizens spokesman John Kuczwanski. “It is an effort for us to collect premiums on the actual risk we insure.”

More here.