Capitol to Courthouse Daily Florida Insurance Report: Monday, February 7
Feb 7, 2011
Above: Sinkholes, such as this one near Winter Park, are the latest natural disaster to hit the Florida insurance industry. (Gulf Coast Business Review)
Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events
10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.–Florida Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance. To view a live Webcast of this event on The Florida Channel (Web 2), click here.
- SB 408 relating to Property and Casualty Insurance by Senator Garrett Richter
- SB 178 relating to Commercial Insurance Rates by Senator Steve Oelrich
4 p.m.–Florida Governor Rick Scott to unveil State Budget. To view a live Webcast of this event on The Florida Channel (Web 1) click here.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related Bills Filed for 2011
SB 824 relating to Driving While License is Suspended or Revoked by Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff
SB 824 would specify exceptions to certain penalties for a person driving a motor vehicle while the person’s driver’s license is canceled, suspended or revoked. The bill removes provisions requiring a law enforcement officer to immediately impound or immobilize a motor vehicle under certain circumstances if the operator’s driver’s license or driving privilege is suspended or revoked. Effective date: July 1, 2011
HB 617 relating to Discriminatory Taxes/Reinsurance by State Representative Jeff Brandes
A memorial bill, HB 617 would urge Congress to oppose efforts to impose new discriminatory taxes that would significantly limit use of reinsurance provided by companies located outside the United States. Effective date: Not Specified
HB 615 relating to Sovereign Immunity by State Representative Marti Coley
Provides that certain health care providers & vendors who primarily serve clients with specified conditions may be considered agents & employees of state or its subdivisions with respect to such services while acting within scope of & pursuant to guidelines established in contractual agreement or Medicaid provider agreement; requires indemnification; provides construction of provisions. Effective Date: July 1, 2011
News Release: “Solutions for Restoring Florida’s Property Insurance Market”
James Madison Institute releases White Paper on property insurance reform
For two years, state leaders have not effectively addressed Florida’s dysfunctional property insurance system despite bipartisan support for reform.
- To access the White Paper, click here.
Editorial: Property-insurance reform package could harm consumers
Homeowners may face more damage from Legislature’s property insurance reforms.
To sell the public on its property-insurance reform package, which amounts to a great big gift to the companies that write your policies, legislators are – big surprise – telling homeowners how it’s a present for them.
PolitiFact Florida: Citing cost, some want to flush state septic tank inspection rule
Members of the state Legislature who resoundingly voted in 2010 to require people to have their septic tanks inspected once every five years now say the new law sorry for the pun stinks.
In the Keys, huge costs associated with new Federal Emeregency Management Act program
Monroe County officials are staring down yet another unfunded Federal Emergency Management Agency mandate — one that could potentially cost more than $400,000 to get started and another $200,000 each year after that to operate.
Lawmakers are taking another crack at property insurance reform this year on the heels of last year’s veto by former Governor Charlie Crist.
Growing ranks of older drivers among safest on Florida roads
Older adults are rolling. They are the fastest-growing segment of drivers nationwide.
Victim caught in middle of 13-year Florida tort reform battle
State Representative John Tobia has quietly entered into a 13-year legal battle between an Insurance company and a 31-year-old Broward County man severely disabled in a car accident involving a Broward County sheriff’s deputy.
Bill would expand treatment options for those in justice system with traumatic brain injuries
Hoping to spare others from falling into a legal crack that confounded a young Boynton Beach man and his parents, state Reprsentative Joseph Abruzzo has filed a bill that would expand a judge’s ability to order treatment for people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.
Florida officials distancing themselves from health-care overhaul
Using as ammunition a Florida judge’s ruling this week that the federal health-care law is unconstitutional, state officials are wasting no time stepping away from the controversial overhaul.
Florida Governor Scott to Unveil Budget Plans Today
Calling for billions in tax and spending cuts, Governor Rick Scott will unveil a budget today that’s as much a policy road map as it is a sweeping political statement.
State lawmakers unveil major fix to unemployment compensation
Florida lawmakers are pushing ahead with a major fix to the state’s safety net for unemployed workers that is already being called cruel and potentially in violation of federal standards by some critics.
Florida investigating charges that bank defrauded state’s pension fund
Florida prosecutors are investigating charges that a major New York bank hired to safeguard retirees’ savings cheated them by overcharging for currency-exchange trades.
Blog: Scott names former Pasco County lawmakers to head Agency for Persons with Disabilities
Former state Representative Carl Littlefield replaces Jim DeBeaugrine, who had come under fire for the unusual sex policies at a Tampa group home for disabled men
Buzz is that 1st District Court of Appeal Judge Charles J. Kahn Jr. has been nominated to fill a federal magistrate vacancy in Pensacola.
National Football League spreads campaign money in Florida
Are you ready for some … campaign cash?
As America sits down for the Packers-Steelers, the watchdogs at OpenSecrets.org highlight the growing political presence of the NFL. Its PAC, which did not give any money in 2008, has been showering lawmakers with money and some Floridians are among the top recipients.
Florida lawmaker says his gun bill is needed because of the health care law
A freshman Florida lawmaker who wants to make it a felony for doctors to ask patients whether they own guns is trotting out the bogeyman of national politics to help make his case.
Costly Florida port rules could be sunk this year
Opponents of state security regulations say the regulations place Florida’s deepwater ports at a competitive disadvantage, but think they finally can end what they say is costly duplication with federal standards.
Complaint against State Representative Tobia dismissed
The Florida Commission on Ethics Friday dismissed a complaint that a professor-legislator abused his authority by using students as volunteers in his campaign.
Florida airports preparing for higher demand for flights to Cuba
Airport officials in Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Key West and possibly Orlando plan to seek federal permission to establish direct flights to Cuba under new travel rules implemented last month by the Obama administration to reach out to the Cuban people.
Legislators unlikely to act on Scott’s plan to expand vouchers
The program would give parents public education funds for savings accounts that could be used for private schools, private virtual schooling, tutoring or college.
Expedia, Orbitz at center of tax fight between hotels, theme parks
Some of the biggest players within Florida’s $60 billion-a-year tourism industry are at odds in a battle over how online-travel companies such as Expedia Inc. and Orbitz Worldwide Inc. should be taxed.
For Florida firms, a reversal of tax fortune?
Florida voters approved the tax in 1972, after then-Governor Reubin Askew had promoted it as a way to help shift the financial burden from everyday citizens to corporations while providing more money for important state programs like schools.
Sticking to the rules: Is there too much state red tape?
Is there no such thing as a good regulation? Or is it that there are just too many of them?
Column: What you didn’t know about the higher cost of tickets, taxes and lawsuits
Did new Clerk of Courts Mitch Needelman really need to jack up the cost of a fix-it ticket in Brevard from $14 to $103?
Blog: Coastal homeowners may have less hurricane risk under new computer model
A new computer model for insurers predicts that inland homeowners face higher risks than previously believed, while coastal residents could actually face lower risks.
Blog: Short-term hurricane modeling driving up coastal insurance costs, say critics
Big hurricanes hit the United States mainland relatively infrequently. But when they do, every policyholder in a given area might suffer damage on one day. That’s different from fires, thefts, or car wrecks, where insurers see a steady stream of relatively predictable, smaller losses.
Blog: Connecticut Governor Malloy Appoints New Insurance Commissioner
In one of his most carefully watched appointments, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy named an industry insider to head up the Connecticut Insurance Department.
Bordelon Reappointed as Texas Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation
Texas Governor Rick Perry reappointed Rod A. Bordelon Jr. of Austin as commissioner of Workers’ Compensation at the Texas Department of Insurance for a term to expire February 1, 2013.
North Carolina Receives 800 Comments on Fire, Dwelling Rates
The North Carolina Department of Insurance said that more than 800 people have submitted either written comments or public testimony on the industry’s request for a statewide increase averaging 20.9 percent in dwelling fire and extended coverage policies.
Ohio Legislators ponder insurance pools for schools
State leaders who are scouring the budget for cost savings soon might have a new message for school employees: Everybody into the pool.
National Risk Retention Association Seeks To Halt Nevada Risk Retention Group Restrictions
The National Risk Retention Association this week requested a federal court order to prevent the Nevada Division of Insurance from enforcing a cease-and-desist order preventing a Vermont-chartered risk retention group from operating in the state.
Farm insurance fraud is cheating taxpayers out of millions
The federal investigator took the witness stand and described the crime scene: a sprawling field clogged with boulders, native grasses and knee-high sagebrush.
Wall Street Journal: ‘Swaps’ Add a New Risk
Many mutual funds hold a type of financial instrument that most individuals have never heard of-and that in extreme conditions could saddle them with losses due to a risk they didn’t know they were taking.
Wall Street Journal: Building a Cheaper Annuity
A longstanding beef against variable annuities is their steep cost. A big plus of exchange-traded funds is their ultralow cost.
The Super Bowl draws a huge crowd and millions of viewers, but as with any big event, there’s big risk involved.
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