Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Monday, August 19
Aug 19, 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
1:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.–Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate’s Homeowners’ Policy and Claims Bill of Rights Working Group meeting. Clearwater, Florida. Discussion of draft recommendations on on insurance claims handling processes and other related concerns. Teleconference: (850) 413-1558 and enter conference ID 81583. The Florida Channel will air the meeting live. To view the draft recommendations, click here.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
Discovery Channel: Florida Beaches Are Running Out of Sand
The beaches in Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, among the most popular, have run out of sand, Discovery Channel News reports.
Officials upset Hernando County not picked for sinkhole study
Spring Hill leads the state in sinkhole activity, with an estimated 6,106 properties reporting void activity, writes Michael Bates for HernandoToday.com.
Florida sinkhole sounded like thunderstorm, guests say
It sounded like a thunderstorm as windows broke and the ground shook, but vacationers who were awakened at a resort villa near Orlando, Fla., soon realized the building was starting to collapse – parts of it swallowed by a 100-foot sinkhole that also endangered two neighboring buildings, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Opinion: Florida, fix sinkhole policy
Florida has lax building standards when it comes to sinkholes, Hofstra geology professor Robert Brinkmann says.
Florida Blue restructuring approved
Florida insurance officials ruled Friday to allow health insurance giant Florida Blue, one of the state’s largest employers and political donors, to restructure itself under a not-for-profit mutual insurance holding company.
Scott wants “navigator” briefing
The Governor said he has privacy concerns about sign up procedures for the new national health care plan, Bill Cotterell reports for The Florida Current.
CIGNA Whistleblower: Florida doing “as much harm as possible” to insured
Florida state lawmakers, in their ongoing efforts to block the implementation of Obamacare in the Sunshine State, recently passed a law that will allow health insurance companies to gouge Floridians more than any corporate boss dreamed was possible.
NCCI Files for Modest 1% Increase in Florida Workers’ Comp Rates
Florida’s employers can look forward to little, if any, change in their 2014 workers’ compensation rates as the state’s industry-backed rating agency has filed for a modest statewide average 1 percent rate increase, Michael Adams reports for Insurance Journal.
Florida Court Reduces Damages in College Football Player Wrongful Death Suit
A ruling by a Florida appeals court on Friday has reduced a $10 million damage award to $200,000 in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a University of Central Florida football player who died following conditioning drills in 2008, Kyle Hightower reports for Insurance Journal.
At League of Cities confab, Bill Nelson urges munis to pressure feds
To help break the partisan logjam in Congress, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is asking for help from leaders of all 410 Florida municipalities. His plea is for them to start pushing federal legislators to work together on immigration, transportation and the budget, Peter Schorsch of SaintPetersBlog.com reports.
Pasco County House Special Election Starts to Form
The race to replace former Rep. Mike Fasano in the Florida House is starting to take shape, with two candidates filing last week to enter the race to represent parts of Pasco County while a third won the backing of the House Republican leadership, Kevin Derby reports for SunshineStateNews.com.
Rising Star Jose Felix Diaz Has Choices to Make for 2014
Jose Felix Diaz doesn’t rank as one of the senior Republicans in the Florida House but he is one of the more visible ones as speculation continues that he will run for Congress, Jeff Henderson reports for SunshineStateNews.com.
Former Louisiana Deputy Insurance Commissioner Sentenced
A former deputy commissioner at the Louisiana Department of Insurance has received a prison sentence for racketeering, according to Justice Department officials, Insurance Journal reports.
U.S. Insurers Concerned about “Intrusions” into Regulatory System
International standard-developing bodies have been turning a studied eye towards insurance regulator standards this summer, with the latest move coming from the G-20’s Financial Stability Board involving standards for unwinding failing insurers.
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