State Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg, introduced legislation Thursday intended to prevent Florida homeowners from being unwillingly or deceptively dropped from state-run Citizens Property Insurance.

In a move to shed most of its 930,000 policyholders, Citizens has been aggressively shifting polices into an assortment of small, Florida-based insurers known as "takeout companies." The onus is on consumers to fill out a form to "opt out" of the new company's offer; if they do nothing, their policies are automatically transferred out of Citizens.

Dudley's measure would require homeowners to fill out a form only if they want to leave Citizens.

The proposed legislation comes in the wake of a Tampa Bay Times story Sunday detailing problems and consumer angst over the takeout program. Among the concerns: Some homeowners said they never received a takeout company's offer — or else threw it out believing it to be junk mail — only to later find their policy had been moved out of Citizens. Some said they were harassed with multiple takeout offers they repeatedly rejected, or had been told by their insurance agent they had no choice but to leave.

A chief concern among homeowners is that many of the relatively new takeout companies have no experience handling hurricane claims and, at least based on one Florida ratings agency, are in relatively poor financial shape.

"In an effort to get rid of its customers, Citizens Property Insurance has resorted to scare tactics and trickery," Dudley said. "They've sent out one deceptively worded letter after another, warning of crippling assessments for those who stay, and encouraging homeowners to accept the 'beneficial' options offered by private insurers. The truth is that Citizens is sitting on a $7.6 billion surplus, which makes the prospect of assessments unlikely."

Citizens' executives have defended the takeout program, saying that in addition to letters from the takeout companies, Citizens mails its own letters that direct consumers to its website for an opt-out form to print out.

The insurer also stresses the motive behind the program. Because Citizens is state-owned, all insured Floridians can be assessed if the company is swamped with hurricane claims that it cannot cover. So a smaller Citizens reduces the risk for all Floridians.

Contact Jeff Harrington at jharrington@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3434. Follow @JeffMHarrington.