Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Monday, December 16

Dec 16, 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

 

There are no events scheduled for today.

 

 

Daily Florida Insurance-Related News

 

Florida looks to private market as Congress adjourns without flood fix

Florida lawmakers want private property insurance companies to come to the rescue of coastal homeowners who will be hit with skyrocketing flood insurance rates at the end of the month, The Florida Current’s Gray Rohrer reports.

 

Editorial Opinion:  Lower property insurance rates

Florida homeowners deserve a break

Florida this year enjoyed its eighth consecutive hurricane-free storm season. That was good news for everyone in the state, but especially for property insurance companies. They have seen their profits soar and their costs plummet, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune writes.

 

Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance awards $6.3 million contract to West Palm Beach law firm

Citizens Property Insurance will pay West Palm Beach attorney Scott Link $1 million annually for three years to oversee claims litigation.

 

Florida posts 23% increase in questionable insurance claims

The National Insurance Crime Bureau released its 2010-2012 Florida questionable claims referral reason analysis – showing a 23 percent increase in questionable claims in the past two years, Michael Clinton reports for the Jacksonville Business Journal. 

 

Florida Supreme Court Rules Lawmakers Must Testify About Redistricting

Lawmakers enjoy protection from being forced to testify in most civil cases, the Florida Supreme Court ruled late Friday, but that protection does not extend to a challenge to the state’s congressional districts working its way through the courts, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA’s Brandon Larrabee reports via SunshineStateNews.com.

 

Florida unemployment benefits still tied up as Website problems persist

Because of a 2011 law passed by the Legislature, unemployment recipients must register online, a requirement that federal officials this year found violated the civil rights of the unemployed, the Miami Herald’s Michael Van Sickler reports.

 

Warning shot bill gaining traction, support

The Florida Public Defender Association has decided to back a measure (HB 89) that would grant immunity to people who show or fire guns in self-defense – the so-called “warning-shot” bill by Rep. Neil Combee, a Polk City Republican, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA’s Margie Menzel reports via the Tallahassee Democrat.

 

Property and Casualty Industry Supportive, But Cautious on Federal Insurance Office Recommendations

Insurers, agents, brokers and state regulators welcome modernization and improvements in the current regulation of insurance, but are not so welcoming of changes that might invite regulation by the federal government, Insurance Journal reports.

 

PCI Expresses Concern with Unnecessary Regulation in ComFrame Draft

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America has submitted formal comments to the International Association of Insurance Supervisors on its ComFrame Consultation Draft stating that ComFrame, while improved over prior versions, still imposes an unnecessary additional level of prescriptive regulation on large international insurance groups, Insurance Journal reports.

 

Federal Auto Safety Regulator Strickland to Exit

The top U.S. auto-safety regulator will step down, as his agency investigates fires in Tesla Motors Inc. electric cars and is behind schedule on implementing a rule requiring backup cameras in new cars, Bloomberg’s Angela Greiling Keane reports via Insurance Journal.

 

 

 

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