TALLAHASSEE -- For six years, Mother Nature has granted Florida uncommon tranquility along its 1,200-mile coastline, where the state’s peninsular mass dangles precariously in the world’s most hurricane-prone waters.

During that probability-defying streak of hurricane-free autumns, Florida’s largest insurer of homes — state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp.— has seen its exposure to risk skyrocket and its financial outlook deteriorate.

As state lawmakers began their legislative session last month, they heard a crescendo of cautionary cries from a growing chorus of fiscal hawks. Their message: A major hurricane could wreak unprecedented havoc on Florida’s fragile economy.

Six weeks later, there has been little political will to pass large-scale reforms and prepare Citizens for another Andrew, or a Katrina.

With redistricting at the forefront and elections looming, the lack of legislative fervor for insurance reform is understandable: The changes deemed necessary by the insurance industry would almost certainly lead to higher premiums for homeowners and attach additional costs to the state’s troubled real estate market.

For its part, Citizens has taken on a growing share of the risk-reduction effort, with a series of controversial moves that have sparked consumer outcry and lawsuits.

Joining the majority of lawmakers hesitant to increase premiums in a tough economy are several legislators who believe there is no need to fundamentally remake Citizens at this time. They say the profit-chasing insurance industry is pushing for premium increases, using apocalyptic language to exaggerate how much taxpayers might have to pay in assessments after a storm.

“If a Hurricane Andrew were to hit today in Miami-Dade County, there’s enough [insurance] money to pay for it, and the assessment is going to be about $40 to $100,” said Rep. Frank Artiles, a Miami Republican. Miami-Dade County, with its miles of coastal condominium towers, has the state’s highest hurricane damage risk.

Proponents of major reform say a massive “one-in-100-year” storm could lead to thousands of dollars in assessments for each affected homeowner.

Artiles has been critical of some of the property insurance measures advanced by the Legislature, including a plan to allow unregulated out-of-state surplus lines insurers to take over policies from Citizens. That measure, HB 245, passed the House on a 66-48 vote this month, but it would only affect about 40,000 of Citizens’ 1.5 million policyholders.

Six weeks into the nine-week session, only a handful of other property insurance proposals have even reached the House floor, and most offer relatively minor changes.

Last year, lawmakers passed a sweeping package of controversial reforms that allowed Citizens to raise rates on sinkhole coverage and increase prices to cover rising costs. Though Citizens has greater exposure to risk and more financial problems this year, leading lawmakers have not shown interest in passing broad reforms, or rubberstamping the rate increases that come along with them.

Fundamental to the debate is whether or not Citizens’ financial troubles warrant major reforms and premium hikes.

Six hurricane-free years have allowed the insurer to build up a cash surplus of about $6 billion. But its level of exposure has more than doubled since 2005, and it now is exposed to a maximum $511 billion in potential claims.