Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Monday, April 11
Apr 11, 2011
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 2011 Regular Legislative Session
- Click here for today’s Senate block calendar
- Click here for today’s House of Representatives block calendar
There are no insurance-related events scheduled for today.
Big rate hike in store for Florida homeowners with State Farm
Regulators have approved an average rate hike of 18.8 percent for Florida homeowners covered by State Farm, according to state documents filed Friday.
- Average rate hike as high as 64 percent for part of Broward
- Comment Sparse in Florida on 80% State Farm Insurance Hike
Column: And now, a word from Citizens insurance …
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida’s so-called “insurer of last resort,” may have gotten poor grades for customer service in the past, but I will give it high grades for effective communication.
Florida’s hurricane grant program won’t be revived
With hurricane season looming, a state program that helped homeowners pay for home protection upgrades a couple of years ago is long gone and isn’t coming back.
7 years after disastrous hurricanes, Orlando waits for FEMA cash
The roofs were repaired long ago and the uprooted trees are just a memory, but nearly seven years after the disastrous 2004 hurricane season, Orlando City Hall is still trying to collect some cash from FEMA.
Column: Certainty in property insurance reform–Rates will rise
Property insurance reform is coming to Florida. Again.
Column: Fear your insurance bill, not Shariah law
GOP allows insurers to charge more, answer less
Insurance companies and their lobbyists are running the show again in Tallahassee after a five-year breather for consumers.
Letter to the Editor: Florida insurance outlook is no joke
What’s so funny about higher rates and less coverage?
Citizens Property Insurance has so many critics that the government-sponsored insurer is the butt of jokes in the Florida Legislature.
Letter to the Editor: Insurance adjusters not the villain in state fight
In heated legislative battles, it’s common for one industry to be painted as the villain.
Lehigh family moves back home after drywall removal by Habitat
Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry counties has built more than 1,000 homes in its history, and has rehabbed another 160 or so. Now the Habitat affiliate can add Chinese drywall remediation to the types of construction it can perform.
Perilous Pines Boulevard-Flamingo Road crossing no longer quite so dangerous
The nation’s so-called “most dangerous” intersection is a lot less treacherous these days.
In Tampa, auto insurance fraud is lucrative – until it’s caught
Dr. Alex Petro claimed to be disabled because of a car accident in Hillsborough County. So disabled, he told insurers, that he couldn’t even cut his grass or take out the garbage. He collected more than $300,000 in disability payments
Driving slow in left lane could get you a ticket in Florida
Florida motorists stuck behind another vehicle in the left-hand lane may soon be getting help from law enforcement and the Legislature.
Jacksonville struggles to avoid a ‘floating junkyard’ of abandoned boats
Martin can see the law coming from a nautical mile away. Sometimes, he leaps into a small sailboat and paddles off.
Polk School District plans to restrict outside use of school facilities
Polk County School District officials plan to add restrictions to the policy governing use of school facilities by outside groups.
Prescription drug monitoring database set to go forward
Despite continued objections from Governor Rick Scott, a prescription drug monitoring database on hold since December is set to launch.
House Speaker Cannon: Not so fast on changes to state health insurance
House Speaker Dean Cannon said lawmakers should be careful before raising the cost for state worker health insurance since they are being “aggressive” in asking employees to contribute to their pensions.
Obesity forces Palm Beach County rescuers, hospitals to buy larger, sturdier equipment
Last year, Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue counted at least five patients it had been dispatched to help who weighed more than 400 pounds. Two tipped the scales at more than 600 pounds.
Blog: Governor Scott extends anti-rule executive order
Gov. Rick Scott signed a new executive order to take the place of the new rule moratorium he imposed on his first day in office, reports the News Service of Florida.
Early Budget Passage Is Expected
Today begins the sixth week of the nine-week legislative session.
Governor Scott’s consolidation effort clears committee
Florida Governor Rick Scott made his first appearance before a legislative committee to ask for approval of a bill that creates a state Department of Economic Opportunity.
Florida lawmakers take up religion in funding, courts
Church and state are intermingling in Tallahassee, as lawmakers consider bills critics say could both help and harm religion in Florida.
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA: House unveils local pension plan
A pension measure unveiled Friday by the House Government Operations Subcommittee would give local governments a sought-after change in the funding of retirement plans for firefighters and police officers, reports Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida.
Senate bid to end SunPass discount dividing Republican legislators
Sen. J.D. Alexander wants to end the discount for motorists to generate more money and bonding authority for the Florida Turnpike.
Revised fertilizer bill heads to House floor
HB 457 originally would have prevented local governments from adopting their own regulations that are stricter than a state model ordinance.
Blog: Ethics complaint filed against likely U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner
From George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post: Democratic activist Diana Demarest has filed an ethics complaint against former state House Majority Leader and likely GOP U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, for not filing a required personal financial disclosure form within 60 days of his November departure from office.
Army Corps studies environmental impacts of phosphate mines
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying the potential environmental impacts of phosphate mining in a 2,100-square mile region that includes Manatee County and the Peace River, which supplies drinking water for Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties and is a tributary of Charlotte Harbor.
Former Governor Crist might campaign again
Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist is not slamming the door shut on his political career just yet.
Tampa incident underscores politicians’ heightened security worries
Whenever he feels the powers-that-be are heading in the wrong direction, Guyton Thompson picks up the phone and gives them an earful.
Governor gives much-criticized bureaucrat a special job
Nearly a month ago, Gov. Rick Scott gave an unadvertised $78,000 job to Carl Littlefield, a career bureaucrat who quit his latest job 17 days after he was appointed rather than face questions about his handling of a controversial group home.
Governor Scott’s Team, Media In ‘Twitter War’
It used to be that if the governor’s office wasn’t happy with what a reporter had written, someone would pick up the phone or email to protest.
Alabama’s coastal insurer of last resort passes 20,000 policies
Alabama’s insurer of last resort has crossed the 20,000-policy mark, as it piles up homeowners in Mobile and Baldwin counties whose wind coverage has been dropped by traditional insurers.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform unveils report on TWIA hurricane insurance abuse
Perhaps the biggest lawsuit reform issue of the session is the shenanigans that occurred with the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.
Tennessee Governor Urged to Sign Personal Lines Flexible Rating Bill
Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill allowing property/casualty insurers to implement rate adjustments for personal auto and home insurance policies without prior state approval.
Ruling may cost workers in hurricane evacuations
When Hurricane Gustav threatened New Orleans in 2008, Dickie Brennan & Co. paid its 400 employees even though the company’s three restaurants were closed by a mandatory evacuation.
U.S. crop insurers eye big profits, big risks in 2011
U.S. crop insurers appear set to reap a bonanza this year with premium income expected to jump about 45 percent to a record $11 billion amid soaring prices for the main row crops like corn, soybeans and cotton.
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