Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Thursday, July 26
Jul 26, 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
8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.–Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”) Market Accountability Advisory Committee meeting. Teleconference: 866-361-7525; participant code: 7849939192#. To view the meeting notice, click here.
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.–Citizens Consumer Services Committee meeting. Teleconference: 866-361-7525; participant code: 6487811620#. To view the meeting notice, click here.
11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.–Citizens Depopulation Committee meeting. Teleconference: 855-312-8651; participant code: 4458606638#. To view the meeting notice, click here.
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.–Citizens Audit Committee meeting. Teleconference: 866-361-7525; participant code: 3877541849#. To view the meeting notice, click here.
State Farm seeks 58 percent increase on rental property coverage
State regulators questioned State Farm’s request for a large rate increase on rental property coverage, but were scolded in turn for not holding hearings across the state for the private insurer’s proposed rate hikes for homeowners’ policies.
Private insurance afraid of Citizens
Competition is often cited as beneficial for the consumer because it helps keep prices down as companies compete for customers.
Letter to the Editor: Fasano should “move up” or leave politics
As columnist Bill Stevens pointed out, the founders didn’t expect (or want) career politicians. So we have term limits.
Insurers line up for PIP changes, but not rate changes
Nearly 90 insurers have been approved for changes related to the new personal injury protection law, but only six have filed for rate adjustments for a law that is designed to provide cost savings.
Court: State law doesn’t bar pregnancy discrimination
Nothing in Florida law prevents discrimination against women on the basis that they’re pregnant, an appeals court ruled Wednesday, although federal law does.
Mercury pollution must drop 86%, Florida says
To eliminate the risk of poisoning from eating too much fish in Florida, the amount of mercury pollution entering the state’s lakes, rivers and estuaries needs to drop 86 percent, a new analysis by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection shows.
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA: 10 big Florida House races to watch this year
Florida House elections are a numbers game. Republicans will control the House after November — that much is clear. But will Democrats pick up enough seats and procedural strength to slow the GOP’s agenda?
Florida House District 21: Keith Perry Could Face Well-Funded Democrat in November
As he seeks to win a second term in the Florida House, Rep. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, could be looking at a Democratic opponent with a healthy war chest.
Florida House District 77: Former Charlie Crist Hand Dane Eagle Has Financial Edge
Dane Eagle, a former staffer in the Crist administration who rose to deputy chief of staff to the governor, is looking to return to Tallahassee — with the support of Republican leaders and business groups that his old boss bucked to run instead as an NPA U.S. Senate candidate.
Florida House District 105 race: Crespo vs. Trujillo
The Florida House of Representatives District 105 primary on Aug. 14 pits Rep. Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, against Republican Paul Crespo.
Primary Profile: Familiar names running in Florida House District 112 race
Name recognition is valuable in a campaign. The two candidates for House District 112 come from families whose members have held elected office since the 1990s.
Nasty state House race turns nastier
The GOP race for House District seat 112 is vicious as both candidates level personal attacks on each other’s moral character
Florida’s most-brutal state House race is unfolding in Miami amid vicious attack mailers, phone calls and a whisper campaign involving pornography, divorce, a stalking claim, an arrest warrant and a reference to the recent Colorado shootings.
U.S. Senate race in Florida is fourth most expensive in the nation
With a state as big as Florida it likely comes as little surprise that the U.S. Senate race in Florida is one of the four most expensive in the nation.
Write-ins used to close Florida primary elections
If the winner of a Democratic or Republican primary in Florida won’t face opposition in the general election, then that primary is open to all voters without regard to party registration under a state constitutional amendment passed overwhelmingly in 1998.
Casinos’ Revenue Hard Count Hits $411 Million in Florida
There is little concern that Florida is in danger of shedding its label as one of the nation’s largest gambling states.
Industry Representatives Warn Congress About Over-Regulating Healthy Insurance Industry
Congress must maintain keen oversight to ensure that federal regulators don’t use their new, albeit limited, authority over insurers to encroach on the proper role of state regulators, the president of an insurance trade group said at a House hearing yesterday.
A senior Republican member of the House Financial Services Committee plans to introduce legislation next week that would bar federal regulators from designating insurance companies as systemically significant.
LIBOR Scandal Makes It More Costly for Bankers to Get Insured
Some of the world’s largest insurers for corporate directors and officers could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in claims over the next few years to cover legal costs for people caught up in the Libor scandal.
USA TODAY: Insurers’ funny ads aren’t paying off, so expect changes
Insurance is no laughing matter. It just seems that way on TV and social media.
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