Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Monday, June 3
Jun 3, 2013
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Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events
There are no Florida insurance-related events scheduled for today.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
Florida, New York homes most at risk as hurricane season begins
In the wake of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s prediction that 2013 will be an “active or extremely active” hurricane season, a new report finds that more than 4.2 million American homes are at risk of storm-surge damage – with Florida and New York leading the pack, Brian Montopoli reports for CBS News.
Florida’s Citizens, Catastrophe fund expected to withstand first major 2013 storm
It’s just a matter of time. Nobody believes Florida’s string of good luck without a hurricane making landfall can continue, Jim Turner reports for THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA.
Fitch Affirms Florida Citizens Good Rating
Fitch Ratings reports that it has affirmed the ‘A+’ rating on $3.6 billion in senior secured bonds of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Coastal Account (formerly known as the ‘High Risk Account’):
Good fortunes pose a dilemma for Florida property insurers
With company profits stronger than they’ve been in years, experts say Florida’s property insurance industry is fast running out of excuses for not using its money to help struggling homeowners, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s Zac Anderson reports.
Many takeout insurers fail despite no storms
Despite Florida having no major hurricanes in the last seven years, one-third of the insurance companies that have taken over policies previously held by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. have gone belly up – and cost taxpayers $400 million, The Miami Herald’s Toluse Olorunnipa reports.
Coastal homeowners reel under insurance costs
Overall, coastal homeowners in 18 states along the Gulf and Atlantic pay about $4 billion more than inland residents for insurance against hurricane winds, according to AP calculations using comparisons of coastal and inland rates in states where they’re available, The Tampa Tribune reports.
Governor Signs Bill to Remove Health Reform’s Protections Against Excessive Rates
Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a bill the Legislature passed, over objections from Democrats, that uses health reform as the excuse to remove protection for Floridians against excessive premium increases on many health-insurance policies, the Orlando Sentinel’s Editorial Board writes.
Florida Hospital Moves Toward Price Transparency
One hospital CEO in South Florida vowed to make public what his institution pays private insurance companies for individual services, Kate Pickert reports for TIME.
Changes to Florida’s annuity sales law garner criticism
Not yet signed by Governor Rick Scott, a new state law pushed by the life-insurance industry and easily passed by Florida lawmakers promises to “safeguard” all investors – not just elderly ones – from becoming victims of sketchy sales or marketing practices in the annuity business, the Orlando Sentinel’s Richard Burnett reports.
Scott seeking lieutenant governor
The Florida Current’s Bill Cotterell reports that, a year before the official start of his re-election campaign, Gov. Rick Scott is nearing a crucial decision in his race for a second term: picking a political partner for what will be a costly, challenging contest.
Governor signs law to extract court clerks from state budget
After three years of dealing with an “unprecedented crisis,” Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation last week laying out a new system for dealing with the roughly $1 billion state clerks of court collect annually, The Florida Times-Union’s Matt Dixon reports.
Blog: House District 2 GOP primary looser donates to Democratic opponent
The race for the Florida District 2 House seat might prove the enemy of an enemy can certainly be a friend, SaintPetersBlog.com’s Peter Schorsch reports.
Redistricting litigation continues
A retired Florida Supreme Court justice will review nearly 2,000 documents and decide whether they should be made public and potentially used as evidence in a lawsuit concerning the Florida Senate redistricting plan OK’d by the Legislature in 2012, The Florida Current’s James Call reports.
Scott enacts gasoline ethanol requirement repeal
A bill that repeals the state ethanol requirement was signed into law Friday by Gov. Rick Scott, The Florida Current’s Bruce Ritchie reports. Critics say gasoline containing ethanol still will be sold in Florida because of a federal ethanol production requirement.
National battle over timber certification rages as “green certification” passes Florida Legislature
HB 269 would revise a 2008 law to allow state agencies to consider various green certification standards on a project-by-project basis rather than following national LEED certification, The Florida Current’s Bruce Ritchie reports.
European versus U.S. Which Hurricane Model is Better?
When forecasters from the National Weather Service track a hurricane, they use models from several different supercomputers located around the world to create their predictions, Tamara Lush reports for Insurance Journal.
Naming Hurricanes a Delicate Art and Science
With all the unknowns attached to the 2013 hurricane season, there’s at least one thing that’s down in black and white: the 21 names chosen for this year’s tropical storms, Christine Dimattei reports for WLRN.org.
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