Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Monday, April 14
Apr 14, 2014
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
1:00 p.m.–Florida Surplus Lines Service Office Board of Governors meeting. Tallahassee, Florida. To view the meeting notice, click here.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
House passes Citizens sinkhole repair program bill
Legislation requiring Citizens Property Insurance policyholders to choose from contractors approved by the state-run insurer to repair homes damaged by a sinkhole cleared the House by an 85-25 vote, The Florida Current reports.
Florida losing center to store and move troop cars
The Pentagon has decreed Florida will no longer have a vehicle-processing center where troops being reassigned, including those ordered overseas, could bring their cars for transfer or storage, the U.S. Transportation Command says. Tampa Bay Times’ William R. Levesque reports.
Citations for texting while driving aren’t adding up
Since Florida’s law against texting while driving went into effect Oct. 1, state troopers have issued 25 citations in Duval County, five in St. Johns, four in Putnam, one in Nassau and none in Baker and Clay counties, according to the Highway Patrol. Florida Times-Union’s Joe Daraskevich reports.
Does Florida have too many specialty license plates?
Law enforcement has complained for years that the increase in and diverse design of specialty plates makes it difficult for officers and crime witnesses to quickly identify a Florida vehicle, Tampa Bay Times’ James Rosica reports.
Feds green-light $2.2 billion for program used to supplement hospitals
Federal officials have agreed to a tentative one-year plan that would allow the state of Florida to continue operating a program used to reimburse hospitals for things like uncompensated care, Florida Times-Union’s Matt Dixon reports via PoliticalFixFlorida.com.
Florida Legislature Shuts Down for the Holidays
State legislators are taking off the seventh week of the 2014 session because it conflicts with Passover and Easter, the Associated Press reports via the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Negron: Budget conference meetings to begin on April 21
Senator Joe Negron, the Senate’s chief budget writer, told the Senate Friday he expects budget conference committees to begin meeting on April 21 after a holiday break next week, The Florida Current reports.
State officials approve Everglades plan
The process to get federal funding for long-planned Everglades restoration projects is underway, now that the state agency that oversees those projects has approved the $1.9 billion plan, Associated Press reports via SaintPetersBlog.com.
Unexpected cost could slow Miami-to-Orlando train plan
A proposal to run 16 round-trip trains daily to and from South Florida and Orlando faces an unanticipated hurdle: the cost of upgrading rail crossings, BrowardBulldog.com’s Ann Henseon Feltgen reports via the Miami Herald.
Some in Insurance Industry Concerned About Language in Senate’s TRIA Extension
Insurance associations are welcoming the Senate’s introduction of a TRIA extension, but some industry officials are concerned about language in the bill, Arthur Postal reports for National Underwriter’s PropertyCasualty360.com.
New York Bill to Standardize Hurricane Deductible Triggers Advances in Assembly
A proposed New York State bill to establish standards for hurricane windstorm deductible triggers is advancing in the state Assembly, Insurance Journal reports.
45 Years Later, Hurricane Camille Downgraded
The National Hurricane Center has downgraded Hurricane Camille’s strength at its catastrophic landfall in 1969, Associated Press reports via Insurance Journal.​
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