Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Friday, May 31
May 31, 2013
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
9:30 a.m.–Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurance Guaranty Association Audit Committee meeting. Tallahassee, Florida. For more information, call 850-386-9200.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
State of Florida fines Universal Property & Casualty Insurance $1.3 Million
Florida’s second largest property insurer is being hit with a fine of nearly $1.3 million, the Associated Press reported in FloridaToday.com.
Florida Insurance Consumer advocate says rate decisions should include falling reinsurance costs
Regulators should consider the drop in reinsurance costs when deliberating rate increase requests from insurers, Insurance Consumer Advocate Robin Westcott said Thursday. The Florida Current reported the story from Tallahassee.
Fidelity Requests Rate Increase Just Before Hurricane Season
Thursday morning, just days before the start of hurricane season, one of Florida’s largest insurance companies, Fidelity Property and Casualty was asking for a 28% rate, reports WJHG-TV of Panama Beach.
At dawn of hurricane season, a chance for turnover on Citizens board
Pretty soon, you won’t have Carlos Lacasa to kick around anymore, reports Gray Rohrer for The Florida Current.
Florida fortifies for another active hurricane season
Florida enters the 2013 hurricane season on Saturday riding a seven-year quiet streak, Curtis Morgan writes for The Miami Herald.
National Weather SuperComputer Forecaster Upgrade Imperative, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson says
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says it’s imperative for the United States to upgrade two supercomputers that forecast major weather events, the Associated Press reports.
Forecasters face furloughs during hurricane season
Fueling concerns about their ability to respond if disaster strikes, two federal agencies with key roles protecting the public during hurricane season will do so with fewer employees because of this year’s sequester, reports Eric Heisig for the Pensacola News Journal.
Florida Attorney General wants a say in dismissed Brooksville red-light camera cases
Motorists with pending red-light camera citations rejoiced this month when a Hernando County judge decided to toss out right-on-red cases that came before him. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, however, filed a motion asking the judge to set aside his orders, reports Tony Marrero for the Tampa Bay Times.
Court Tells Florida to Review Employee Drug Testing for Some Jobs
Specific government job categories must be considered for mandatory drug testing in Florida, an appeals court concluded in a ruling that said a judge went too far in blocking enforcement of across-the-board public employee screening ordered by the state’s governor, reports Bloomberg’s Joel Rosenblatt and Christine Sexton for Insurance Journal.
Editorial: Vindictive health care bill targets consumers
A bill that would allow health insurers to charge whatever they want, no matter how unreasonable, and blame the Affordable Care Act is on Gov. Rick Scott’s desk, the Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board writes.
Florida Governor signs 38 bills including a trio facing environmental opposition
Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed 38 bills into law including a trio of bills facing environmental opposition, The Florida Current’s Bruce Ritchie reports.
- Scott Gives Human Trafficking Victims a Path to Clear Records
- Pension bill stuns counties, could force tax increases
Florida’s redistricting battle continues with records release
A Republican-allied campaign research and consulting firm surrendered more than 1,800 pages of records this week but asked a judge Thursday to block a demand by Democratic-leaning groups for more emails and documents in a lawsuit over last year’s legislative redistricting battle, the Palm Beach Post’s John Kennedy blogs.
Former Florida Attorney General McCollum Suggests Rick Scott Could Face Primary
Former Attorney General Bill McCollum, who lost the gubernatorial primary to Rick Scott in 2010, thinks the governor could face a primary himself, notes SaintPetersBlog.com on a Tampa Bay Times report.
Blog: Associated Industries vote analysis suggests priority shift
According to the Associated Industries of Florida analysis of more than 10,451 votes cast on 89 business-related bills, the gap between Democrat’s and Republican’s voting records decreased this year, from a difference of 26 points last year to 19 points in 2013, Karen Cyphers reports for SaintPetersBlog.com.
Outside appraisal boosts Citrus County’s tax claim against Duke Energy
Duke Energy’s attempt to slash its Citrus County tax bill might have backfired: A new appraisal says the utility owes more than three times what it paid last year, Ivan Penn and Drew Harwell report for the Tampa Bay Times.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Starts Post-Sandy Study of North Atlantic Coast
According to Insurance Journal, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that the corps’ scientists and engineers launched a collaborative study on Tuesday to determine how best to reduce flood and storm damage risks for people and communities along the North Atlantic coast.
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