Alleging customers of the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation are being unknowingly passed off to smaller private insurers, Democratic state lawmakers are filing legislation to sharply curtail Citizens' "takeout" program.

The program, which has been championed by Gov. Rick Scott and is intended to reduce Citizens' risk exposure, has resulted in letters being sent to Citizens customers informing them that their policies are being automatically transferred to the private insurers. Some customers have complained the letters look more like advertisements than official notices.

The new legislation, HB 289, would require the takeout notifications to be "uniform" in appearance and, critically, would ban automatic takeouts by the private insurers, which in many cases are less financially solvent compared to Citizens.

HB 289 — Operations of the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

Specifies that consumer representative appointed by Governor to corporation's board of governors is not prohibited from practicing in certain professions; authorizes use of certain policyholder information by private insurers in analyzing risks; prohibits use of information to directly solicit policyholders; requires policyholder, after date certain, to receive certain information related to demonstrations of interest by insurers; allows policyholder to elect to limit frequency of solicitations for take-out offers; provides circumstances under which policyholder whose policy was taken out to be considered renewal policyholder.

"There's a long list of things that seem tricky, deceptive, misleading, unfair," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg.

Similar legislation unanimously passed the Legislature last spring, only to be vetoed by Gov. Scott, a move takeout reform supporters say amounted to payback for the millions of dollars contributed to the governor's 2014 re-election campaign by the insurance industry. Scott has said Citizens, which has a cash reserve of at least $7.6 billion, would be unable to pay claims in the event of a major hurricane, a scenario that would force taxpayers to foot the bill.

"They should be the insurance company of last resort," Scott said of Citizens. "I'll do everything I can to make sure they keep doing that."

The lawmakers behind the new bill, however, say they're undeterred, pointing out the governor has reversed course on several issues, including Medicaid expansion.

"The governor's taken positions all over the map. We're hoping that the governor flip-flops on this issue, too," said Rep. Jose Rodriguez, D-Miami.