Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Thursday, August 4
Aug 4, 2011
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
10:00 a.m.–Florida Surplus Lines Service Office National Clearinghouse Committee meeting; 10:00 a.m. Agenda includes issues pertaining to the proposed national surplus lines tax clearinghouse. To view the meeting notice, click here.
Florida House Speaker-Designate Will Weatherford: Citizens needs to scale back its rate hikes
Property insurance. When these two words are spoken, what tends to follow is a wave of frustration and anger for many homeowners and policymakers in Florida.
Florida Senator Fasano leads Pasco County march on insurance rates
State Sen. Mike Fasano is rallying Florida policyholders to join him in front of the Pasco County Government Center next Tuesday in a sign-waving protest of the proposed sinkhole rate increases sought by Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
Letter to the Editor: No Help From Citizens
It’s been three months that we’ve been living with a hole in our master bedroom closet, from water leakage from the hallway bathroom. Citizens denied our claim, saying the leak was more than 14 days old.
Drug Costs Continue to Rise in Florida’s Workers’ Compensation System
Increases in the cost and frequency of physician-dispensed medications continue to negatively impact the Florida workers’ compensation system.
Health agency to Governor and Legislature: Don’t cut Medicaid staff
The Agency for Health Care Administration was required to submit a reorganization plan that looked at whether changes should be made as part of the $22 billion overhaul of Medicaid.
Appeals court upholds pollution rules
A federal appeals court on Wednesday turned down a bid by utilities, farmers and the South Florida Water Management District to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from imposing new water pollution rules across the state.
Swim at your own risk? Florida cutting back on water testing at beaches
DOH plans to quit testing at 45 beaches statewide and will reduce weekly testing at its remaining 259 beaches to every other week.
Judge rejects challenge to Florida’s execution drug
Lawyers for a man who shot and killed a Coral Gables police officer 33 years ago failed to prove that the new use of a drug in Florida’s lethal injections would cause inmates serious pain, a Miami-Dade judge ruled Wednesday.
Benaquisto named Florida Senate Deputy Majority Leader
Freshman state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, will take the reigns as deputy majority leader in the Florida Senate.
Ethics commission drops charges against former House speaker
The Florida Commission on Ethics has dismissed three complaints filed against former House Speaker Ray Sansom. The commission concluded that there is no reason to pursue the case since Sansom has resigned.
Nancy Argenziano wants to run as a Democrat, but new law says she can’t
Former Republican state Sen. Nancy Argenziano announced this week she plans to run for Congress as a Democrat in 2012.
Democratic state Rep. Scott Randolph last week asked House Speaker Dean Cannon’s office for detailed billing records of what was being spent to litigate the court fight against Fair Districts.
Republican National Committee chair: Florida GOP will feel penalty for early primary
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, in Tampa for the RNC’s summer meeting, reiterated again Wednesday that any state that violates the party’s sanctioned primary schedule will be penalized.
Blog: State actually forecasting an increase property values
In a sign that Florida’s housing market may be on the road to recovery, the state’s top economist expects an increase in school property tax rolls next year of 1.3 percent, reports Lilly Rockwell of NSF.
Florida tribe must disclose records to IRS
A Florida Indian tribe has been ordered by a federal judge to turn over financial records to the IRS in a probe involving gambling profits.
Appeals court faults Palm Beach County for approving mine expansion in agricultural area
A rock mine south of Lake Okeechobee can’t expand unless operators show that the aggregate they produce will be used for public projects, a requirement the company says it can’t meet, the Fourth District Court of Appeals said Wednesday.
Investor’s mission: Get Florida to regulate property managers
British investor Lloyd Green was surprised to learn recently that the taxes on his vacation-rental house in Davenport’s Ridgewood Lakes subdivision were unpaid and that the pool was green and the yard unmowed.
Southwest Florida and rest of state still bleeding construction jobs
Despite some signs of renewed activity, Florida’s beleaguered construction industry continued to bleed jobs in June.
Governor Scott revives Bob Graham’s ‘workdays’ at Tampa doughnut shop
A head taller than his new co-workers, Rick Scott leaned over the glass counter at Nicola’s Donuts and Bakery.
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