Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Friday, February 17
Feb 17, 2012
To go directly to the section of your choice, click on a hyperlink below. Other hyperlinks to meeting information, bills and news are noted in bold type.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events
Florida’s 2012 Regular Legislative Session
- Click here for today’s Senate block calendar
- Click here for today’s House of Representatives block calendar
1:00 p.m.– Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association Rates and Forms Committee meeting. To view the meeting notice, click here. To view the agenda, click here.
Citizens Property Insurance sued over lost discounts
A Pembroke Pines man has filed a lawsuit against Citizens Property Insurance Corp., alleging the state-run insurer of last resort negated policies that entitled homeowners to discounts.
Surplus Insurance Agencies May Get Citizens’ Dropped Policies
Supporters of the bill say surplus lines companies are some of the largest and most reliable insurers in the world and could help stabilize Florida’s troubled property insurance market.
Dark clouds loom for property insurance rates
Stable rates for commercial property insurance in Florida appear to be coming to an end. About half of the businesses surveyed by Marsh, a New York City-based insurance broker, reported rate increases of up to 10 percent in the second half of 2011.
Governor Rick Scott gets up close look at auto insurance fraud tactic
Florida state troopers gave Governor Rick Scott and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater a firsthand look Thursday at several types of staged automobile accidents that have created a fraudulent billion-dollar industry at the expense of drivers.
Governor Rick Scott Encourages House Effort to Reform No-Fault Insurance to Fight Fraud
Governor Rick Scott on Thursday came out in favor of how the House of Representatives is trying to revamp the state’s no-fault insurance program.
Blog: Dueling Personal Injury Protection reform groups ramp up advocacy
Two competing coalitions advocating for PIP reform have ramped up their activities this week even though neither legislative chamber was scheduled to discuss no-fault auto insurance this week.
Florida workers’ compensation rates to go up 8.9 percent
Companies renewing their workers’ compensation insurance face double trouble – higher rates and paying more if their claims exceed premiums.
Florida House to take up Eric Brody claims bill but cap attorney’s fees
A claims bill for Eric Brody, who is largely confined to a wheelchair after wreck caused by a Broward County Sheriff’s deputy in 1998, will come before the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on Friday, but an important amendment capping attorney’s fees involved in the suit will be considered.
Compromise in Senate bill could lead to litigation limits
Patients who arrive at a doctor’s office could be given one more form to fill out – a waiver for their right to a jury trial if they ever accuse the doctor of botching their care – under compromise legislation passed by a key Senate committee on Thursday.
Committee approves bill to give lawmakers immunity in civil court suits
The House Judiciary Committee has cleared a bill that would give all current and former state lawmakers and their staff absolute immunity against having to testify for a civil court proceeding.
Department of Health revamp clears Florida Senate Committee
A Senate committee today approved a wide-ranging plan that would scale back the role of the Florida Department of Health, close the state’s tuberculosis hospital and block mandatory septic-tank inspections.
Senator John Thrasher pushes bill that allows optometrists to prescribe drugs
Politics, controversial legislative maneuvering, and big-money special interests were on full display during a Senate hearing Thursday. What brought them together? Florida’s “eyeball wars.”
Governor signs bill backing proposed state water quality rules
Governor Rick Scott on Thursday signed HB 7051 backing proposed water quality rules that are intended to replace federal rules opposed by utilities, industry and agriculture groups.
Governor Rick Scott approves congressional districts, triggering new lawsuit
Governor Rick Scott on Thursday signed into law redrawn congressional boundaries lawmakers approved last week – triggering another lawsuit by Democratic-allied organizations.
A year after robo-signing revelations, Florida foreclosures on the rise again
The rate of foreclosures in Florida is increasing again, one year after the “robo-signing” controversy prompted several big banks and lenders to place a temporary moratorium on foreclosures and to slow the pace of foreclosures once the moratorium was lifted.
Blog: Governor Rick Scott will explore ways to privatize prisons without law change
Governor Rick Scott said Thursday he will explore opportunities to privatize state prisons on his own following the Senate’s defeat of a bill that would have required some prisons be bid out to private companies.
Florida Senate committee passes bill to reduce minimum wage for tipped workers
The state Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee passed a bill Thursday that would allow employers to pay tipped workers, waiters and waitresses, a lower minimum wage than what is currently authorized in Florida.
Bill aims to overhaul Florida alimony law
A House panel has given the green light to a bill that would overhaul what critics say is the state’s antiquated alimony law.
Florida bill would let parents decide failing school’s fate
Legislation moving quickly in the Republican-controlled Legislature would let parents “trigger” turnaround plans for failing public schools that could include management by for-profit companies.
Louisiana City Works to Remove Dilapidated Structures
The city of Alexandria, Louisiana, can’t keep up with the demand for destroying dilapidated structures in the city.
After Failed Challenge Louisiana Town Adopts New Flood Maps
The Denham Springs, Louisiana, City Council has adopted new federal flood insurance maps.
Alabama Governor Wants 1 Year Tax Holiday for Storm Supplies
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has proposed a once-a-year sales tax holiday on weather radios, flashlights, generators and other supplies needed to help prepare for weather disasters.
Wildfires No Longer Seasonal or Regional Catastrophe
Wildfires have grown from being regional or seasonal problems as the wildfire season throughout the United States often runs the entire year and in a variety of locations.
Give Seniors Vital Weapons in the Fight to Survive Pneumonia
Vaccinations are truly one of the health care industry’s greatest success stories. Immunizations are credited with preventing an estimated 14 million cases of disease and avoiding 33,000 deaths a year.
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