Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Monday, February 27
Feb 27, 2012
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 2012 Regular Legislative Session
- Click here for today’s Senate block calendar
- Click here for today’s House of Representatives block calendar
9:30 a.m.– Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) Proposed Rule Hearing. Proposed amendments to Rules 69O-200.004,.005,.006,.009,.014,.015 would incorporate a new category of Motor Vehicle Service Agreement Companies called “Motor Vehicle Manufacturers.” To view the hearing notice, click here.
10:30 a.m.–OIR Proposed Rule Hearing. Due to its irrelevance, repeal of 69O-170 Part IV pertaining to the arbitration of rate filings is proposed. Under recent changes to Section 627.062(6), F.S., the provision for arbitration was removed. To view the hearing notice, click here.
9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.–Senate Session
- CS/SB 578 relating to Depopulation Programs of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation; Senator Garrett Richter
- CS/SB 730 relating to Medicaid Managed Care plans; Senators Joe Negron and Don Gaetz
- SB 1152 relating to the Repeal of a Workers’ Compensation Independent Actuarial Peer Review Requirement; Senator Garrett Richter
- SB 1232 relating to Open Government Sunset Review/Personal Injury Protection and Property Damage Liability Policies. Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance
Blog: Florida Senate to Take Up Surplus Lines Takeout Bill
The Senate will take up a bill that would allow unregulated surplus-lines insurers to take their policies out of Citizens Property Insurance.
No storms, but no breaks for homeowners from Florida insurers
To Florida homeowners, it seems like there is only one thing worse than a bad storm to make them dread opening their insurance bills: Years of calm.
Florida Personal Injury Protection Bill Heads to House Floor
The Florida House Economic Affairs Committee has advanced legislation to reform the state’s no-fault, personal injury protection program.
Florida House offers concessions to doctors in no-fault auto insurance fix
A House panel signed off Friday on a reworked version of a bill designed to bring down costs in personal injury protection insurance.
Staged Accidents Plummet After Crackdown
Often criticized as the epicenter of auto Insurance fraud in the state, Hillsborough County is turning its reputation around with a new ordinance targeting the problem.
House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, isn’t contemplating the need for a special session on the different reform efforts proposed to Florida’s Personal Injury Protection insurance program that are moving through the Senate and House.
Florida taxpayers would pay tab for damages caused by train crashes
A 2008 train crash in California’s San Fernando valley drew national headlines for its grim toll: 25 killed, more than 100 injured.
Florida House passes wrongful conviction compensation
William Dillon was momentarily overcome with emotion in the Florida House gallery on Friday as the chamber passed a bill that would compensate him $1.35 million for spending 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
Legislature Moving to Tighten Expert Witness Standards
A bill is moving through the Legislature targeting what some lawmakers described as “hired guns” — expert witnesses testifying in court cases.
End of the line for pension changes this session?
The sponsor of HB 525 has tabled the measure, saying the sticking point was the default placement of newly hired employees into the state’s defined-contribution investment plan.
Mental Health Faces Big Budget Hit
Local advocates for mental-health and substance-abuse treatment are worried as the Florida House and Senate prepare for their upcoming budget conference committee.
Court to decide: Did Florida GOP stack deck in redrawing political lines, or is it just geography?
The state Supreme Court this week will be the first battleground in a courtroom fight over Florida’s future political map, which Democrats say has contours drawn to favor Republicans.
State worker drug test bill heads to House floor
A key legislative priority of Governor Rick Scott’s which would let state agencies randomly drug test 10 percent of their employees is heading to the House floor after clearing its last committee Friday.
Budget Turkeys Survive Amid State Cuts
It’s turkey season in Florida’s Capitol.
State one-ups feds in battle over nutrients
Last week the state government succeeded in ducking an attempt by the federal government to impose water rules that would give Florida residents a real hosing.
Another department head calls it quits, Workforce Florida Inc. gets a new board member and Florida TaxWatch’s Chief Executive Officer is appointed to a board while the group brings on three new staff members.
Charter schools could gain power to take over public schools
Charter schools would receive more construction money, greater freedom to expand and the ability to take over struggling public schools at the request of parents under two bills still in play as the legislative session winds down.
Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance settlement offer is rejected
An offer to settle a lawsuit involving more than 25,000 policyholders insured by the state-run insurance company of last resort was rejected Friday as “fatally flawed” by the attorneys representing those insured.
Wall Street Journal: Trial date set in lawsuit over looted insurers
More than a decade after it was filed, a federal judge in Mississippi has set a tentative trial date in a lawsuit stemming from scams run by a notorious financier who looted $200 million from insurance companies and created a charity that claimed to have Vatican connections to further his scheme and cover his tracks.
New York Times: Moral Hazard — A Tempest-Tossed Idea
The reports outraged America: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, people who fled the ravaged Gulf Coast were spending disaster relief, paid for by taxpayers, on tattoos, $800 handbags and trips to topless bars.
Click here to follow Colodny Fass on Twitter (@CFTLAWcom)
