A crack in the foundation of the insurance industry's push for higher sinkhole premiums appeared this week: Opposition to the proposed rate increases has gotten so loud that it can't be ignored no matter how much the rate increases might make sense financially.

With some coastal residents facing sinkhole premium hikes of more than 2,000 percent, the state-backed insurer Citizens Property this week said, essentially, 'Well, OK, maybe that's a bit much ... we'll see what we can do."

Meanwhile, a controversial state law requiring new financial-assistance applicants to pass drug tests before receiving benefits moved to federal court after a challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and a U.S. Navy veteran who contends applicants shouldn't have to offer a specimen simply because they are in temporary financial straits.

In another federal courtroom in Miami, a judge upheld the Fair Districts amendment governing the drawing of congressional districts. In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Ursula Ungaro rejected an effort by two members of Congress to have the requirement thrown out. The two had argued the new constitutional requirement will make it impossible to draw minority-access districts.

A cloud was cast over the week's activities by the deaths of a pair of political insiders. Republican Party of Florida Chairman Dave Bitner, 63, and Republican lawyer and environmental activist Thom Rumberger, 79, both died this week, both leaving behind a host of admirers.

CITIZENS' SINKHOLE RATE PHASE-IN LIKELY:

Responding to cries from policyholders who could see their rates shoot through the roof, Citizens' new chairman, former state legislator Carlos Lacasa, called a special meeting of the insurer's board of governors to discuss ways to temper the blow of proposed sinkhole premium increases to many of its 1.4 million policies.

Citizens officials said they will consider phasing in sinkhole premium hikes required by lawmakers earlier this year as they try to balance actuarial soundness and political reality in the face of objections from customers of the state's largest property insurer.

The announcement came as the company readied for a public hearing Tuesday in Tampa, a location near the epicenter of sinkhole activity and claims. The board voted in July to approve the premium increases.

Citizens officials have said repeatedly that sinkhole claims are threatening the company, its policyholders, and maybe the state's residents, who back the company and would bail it out in the event of failure. Last year, the company collected $32 million in sinkhole premiums, but paid out nearly $250 million in claims.

FAIR DISTRICTS FAIR, FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS: