September 20, 2026
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Whose Voice in the Committee Room? Michael Owen, Insurance Cash, and the Squeeze on District 70

B. John 22 Views 0 Comments , , , , ,
This entry is in the series 2026 Elections

Vote By Mail IconEvery time a homeowner in Apollo Beach, Ruskin, Riverview, or Sun City Center opens a property insurance renewal notice, the number at the bottom matters more than another Tallahassee press release.

Florida has long been one of the most expensive states in the nation for homeowners insurance.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers rewrote Florida’s insurance laws. They eliminated one-way attorney fees in property insurance cases, narrowed the circumstances under which policyholders can pursue bad-faith claims, and made it harder and riskier for homeowners to take insurers to court.

The theory was that reducing litigation costs would strengthen insurers and eventually benefit consumers. Homeowners can judge the results when the renewal notice arrives. Mine has apparently missed the memo every year.

Michael Owen came to Tallahassee in 2024 with more experience than the average freshman legislator. He is an attorney, former Hillsborough County commissioner, and small-business owner. House leadership also placed him on the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee.

That is a useful place for a legislator representing South Hillsborough County to sit. It is also a useful place for the insurance industry to have friends.

The 80 Percent Club

A review of Owen’s state campaign-finance filings for his 2024 and 2026 House campaigns found that he reported $215,876.99 in gross contributions. The striking part is how little of that money resembles the stereotypical grassroots campaign funded by neighbors writing $25 and $50 checks.

More than 80.6 percent of every dollar Owen raised, $174,000 across 174 transactions, arrived in maximum $1,000 contributions.

Expand the definition to contributions of $500 or more, and 94 percent of all the money he raised came from high-dollar donors.

Contributions under $500 accounted for just $6,065.50, or 2.8 percent, of the total. Apparently, the small-dollar revolution has not yet reached Michael Owen’s campaign account.

The geographic pattern is just as striking. In his first campaign for the Florida House, 87.1 percent of Owen’s contributions came from outside Hillsborough County, including more than $40,000 from Tallahassee political committees and lobbying interests. Across his House campaigns, the analysis found 60.5 percent of his campaign money came from outside the county he represents.

None of that proves a donor purchased a vote. Campaign contributions rarely come with little gift tags reading, Please remember us when the bill comes up. They do show who has decided that putting money behind a candidate is worth the investment. And one industry appears repeatedly in Michael Owen’s ledger.

Follow the Insurance Money

The campaign-finance review identified more than $16,500 in 17 contributions tied to insurers, insurance agents, industry political committees, trade organizations, and insurance lobbying interests.

Among them:

  • American Integrity MGA, LLC: $1,000
  • Heritage MGA, LLC: $1,000
  • Tower Hill Insurance Group: $500
  • Zurich American Insurance Company: $1,000
  • FCCI Services: $1,000
  • Courtesy Insurance Company: $1,000
  • Roche Surety & Casualty: $1,000 combined
  • Florida Insurance Council PC: $2,000
  • Florida Surplus Lines Association/SURPAC: $1,000
  • Agents for a Better Florida: $1,000
  • FAIAPAC: $1,000
  • Committee of Florida Agents: $1,000
  • Florida Agents for Insurance Reform: $1,000
  • Lisa Miller & Associates: $2,000

Lisa Miller is a former Florida deputy insurance commissioner who became an insurance lobbyist and consultant.

Again, the checks do not prove a quid pro quo. They establish something simpler and far easier to document: insurance interests with business before the Florida Legislature have invested thousands of dollars in the campaign of a legislator who sits on the committee that handles insurance legislation.

That makes Owen’s record on the subject fair game for close scrutiny.

So What Has He Done for Homeowners?

This is where the story gets interesting.

Owen has been sitting at the table. He has the legal background. He represents communities filled with homeowners dealing with Florida’s property insurance market.

Yet a review of his sponsored legislation finds no Owen bill aimed at reducing homeowners insurance premiums, restoring the attorney-fee protections lawmakers removed, strengthening remedies for homeowners whose legitimate claims are underpaid or denied, or imposing new penalties on carriers that mishandle claims.

That distinction matters. A legislator does not control insurance rates by himself, and sponsoring a bill does not guarantee passage. But legislation tells voters where a lawmaker chooses to spend time and political capital.

Michael Owen has demonstrated that he knows how to sponsor legislation when something interests him. The skill apparently does not disappear. It just becomes harder to spot when homeowners insurance enters the room.

Which brings us back home.

Plenty of Energy for Hillsborough County

While Owen has not made homeowner insurance relief a signature legislative cause, he found time for a pair of bills aimed squarely at changing how Hillsborough County governs itself.

He sponsored HB 4027, which put before Hillsborough voters a proposal to replace the county’s appointed professional school superintendent with an elected partisan superintendent beginning in 2028. The Legislature passed it, and the governor signed it. The change now depends on approval in the November 2026 referendum.

Owen also sponsored HB 4029, which proposes a sweeping restructuring of the Hillsborough County Commission. The measure would expand the commission to 11 members, eliminate the existing countywide seats in favor of single-member districts, change several voting requirements, and alter parts of the county charter process. It, too, requires voter approval.

Currently, every citizen in Hillsborough has THREE representatives on the County Commission (1 for their district and three at-large Commissioners). Why would anyone want to trade that for a single representative?

So legislative initiative is clearly not the problem. Owen can reach into Hillsborough County’s governmental structure whenever the mood strikes him. Tallahassee found plenty of time to redesign Hillsborough government. Insurance relief seems to have missed the calendar invite.

And that creates a rather awkward comparison.

When the subject is how Hillsborough County chooses a superintendent or elects its county commissioners, Owen is ready to use the power of the Florida Legislature to rewrite the rules and send a new structure to the ballot.

When the subject turns to homeowners dealing with insurance companies, he suddenly discovers the virtues of state inaction.

It is an interesting conversion.

Home Rule, Tallahassee Style

Florida Republicans have spent years overriding local governments on issues ranging from land use to employment policy. Local control apparently remains a cherished principle right up until a local government does something Tallahassee dislikes.

HB 4027 and HB 4029 fit comfortably into that pattern.

Yes, Hillsborough voters ultimately decide whether these two changes take effect.

But neither proposal originated with the Hillsborough County School Board or County Commission. Owen went to the state Legislature and used state law to put both structural changes before local voters.

Apparently local control works best after Tallahassee decides what question the locals should answer.

There is room for an honest debate over both proposals. Some voters may prefer an elected superintendent. Others may prefer single-member commission districts.

The larger question for Owen is one of priorities. He has limited time, staff, committee assignments, and political capital. Every legislator does. He chose to make restructuring Hillsborough government a legislative priority.

Property insurance relief did not receive the same treatment.

The Question the Money Raises

Campaign contributions by themselves do not prove why a legislator votes or acts as he does. That is why the interesting part of campaign-finance research starts after the checks are counted. Who gave? What interests do they represent? What legislation affects those interests? What did the legislator do?

In Owen’s case, the pattern is worth examining.

His campaigns rely heavily on maximum-dollar contributions and money from outside Hillsborough County. Insurance companies, insurance political committees, agents’ groups, and lobbying interests appear throughout his reports. He sits on the House committee that deals with insurance policy.

At the same time, property insurance relief has not emerged as one of his signature legislative causes. Changing Hillsborough’s school superintendent and County Commission has. Those are facts voters can weigh for themselves.

Perhaps Owen has a persuasive explanation for the difference. He should be asked for it.

Whose Voice Gets Heard?

Michael Owen arrived in Tallahassee with advantages many freshman legislators lack. He knew local government. He understood the law. He received a committee assignment that put him in the middle of one of the biggest financial problems facing Florida homeowners.

He also received thousands of dollars from interests connected to the insurance industry.

The contribution records do not tell us what was said in meetings, what was discussed with lobbyists, or whether any particular donor influenced any particular vote. They do tell us who wrote the checks. The legislative record tells us where Owen chose to concentrate much of his visible effort.

Put those records side by side, and a fair question emerges.

When homeowners in District 70 are opening insurance bills that strain family budgets, why has their representative devoted so much legislative energy to restructuring local government while producing so little of his own legislation aimed directly at the property insurance burden?

And perhaps that is the question Michael Owen should have to answer.

Because in a Legislature awash in corporate donations and Tallahassee power games, homeowners might reasonably wonder why their insurance bill keeps demanding more attention from them than it appears to receive from the people they sent to Tallahassee.

Sources
Series Navigation<< Josie Tomkow, Insurance Reform, and a Trail Worth Following

B. John

B. John Masters writes about democracy, moral responsibility, and everyday Stoicism at deep.mastersfamily.org. A lifelong United Methodist committed to social justice, he explores how faith, ethics, and civic life intersect—and how ordinary people can live out justice, mercy, and truth in public life. A records and information management expert, Masters has lived in the Piedmont,NC, Dayton, OH, Greensboro, NC and Tampa, FL, and is a proud Appalachian State Alum.

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