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Something big is happening this morning in Tallahassee. The Florida House Insurance and Banking Committee is holding a long-overdue investigative hearing beginning at 8:00 a.m.<\/a>, and for once, the spotlight is shining where it should\u2014on the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) and its leadership. I previously noted this upcoming hearing in Florida Legislators to Investigate Whether Property Insurers Used Accounting Tricks to Hide Profits<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n I wrote about what is at the heart of the inquiry in Secret Report Proves Florida Insurance Executives Wrongful Self-Dealing<\/a><\/em> \u2014 a secret report<\/a> that was buried deep inside OIR for nearly three years. A report that, if released at the time, could have exposed how insurance executives and their affiliated companies were pocketing billions while Florida homeowners were drowning in skyrocketing premiums. Those same insurance executives, their lobbyists, and David Altmaier were telling Florida\u2019s legislators of the great financial need to overhaul insurance policyholder protection laws and blaming lawsuits as the reason why insurers could not make money in Florida.<\/p>\n Instead of ensuring transparency, former Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier and his successor, Michael Yaworsky, kept the report hidden. It only came to light after a journalist, refusing to take \u201cno\u201d for an answer, pried it loose through a Freedom of Information Act request.<\/p>\n Now, lawmakers are demanding answers, and today\u2019s hearing is the first real attempt to pull back the curtain on what may be one of the most egregious failures of regulatory oversight in recent Florida history.<\/p>\n