Condos and commercial buildings covered by state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. could be more easily transferred to lightly regulated surplus lines companies under a bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis late Tuesday.

The bill (SB 1028) was initially opposed by Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky, who wanted tighter oversight powers over the surplus lines carriers that would be taking policies out of Citizens.

Surplus lines insurers are companies largely exempt from state regulations, and their rates and policies aren’t reviewed by the Office of Insurance Regulation. As of May 31, surplus lines carriers covered 778,000 policies in Florida, including 88,314 homeowner policies and 147,501 commercial property policies, according to the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office.

The bill eventually passed 33-1 in the Senate and 88-19 in the House.

Under the new law, Citizens is directed to set up a clearinghouse to move its condo and commercial policies into the private market. If a company makes an offer that is within 15% more than the Citizens rate, the policy must be moved to the private carrier.