Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Thursday, June 6
Jun 6, 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
9:00 a.m.–Florida Board of Employee Leasing Companies Board of Directors meeting (continued from June 5); Celebration, Florida. To view the meeting notice, click here.
10:00 a.m.–Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation Rule Development Workshop. Proposed Rule 69L-7.602 would relieve insurers of the obligation of issuing an Explanation of Bill Review when providing reimbursement of medical bills for contractual pharmaceutical services. To view the hearing notice, click here.
1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.–Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Claims Committee meeting. Teleconference: 866-361-7525; participant code: 5219676193#. To view the meeting notice, click here.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
Florida Governor Signs Expert Witness Standard Overhauls into Law
Florida law school graduates studying for their bar exams better take note: Gov. Rick Scott has signed two pieces of legislation which overturn nearly century-old standards governing what type of expert witness testimony is admissible in state courts, writes Eric Giunta, a legal analyst for SunshineStateNews.com.
European Tourists Warned of Tropical Storm Andrea’s Impending Florida Collision
Tropical Storm Andrea is expected to hit Florida’s west coast and southern Georgia today, Natalie Paris of Great Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports.
Florida Senator Bill Nelson to Revive Homeowners Defense Act; Industry Divided
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, (D), says he plans to reintroduce legislation giving the Treasury Department authority to make loans available to state-run reinsurance programs, such as the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, to ensure their solvency, Insurance Journal’s Washington D.C. reporter Arthur Postal writes.
Florida’s homeowners insurance market may be stabilizing
The homeowners insurance market in Florida is notorious throughout the U.S. for being somewhat volatile and unstable. The state is considered a very high risk zone to the homeowners insurance sector and has regularly fallen victim to natural disasters in the past, LiveInsuranceNews.com reports.
Editorial: Storming into the season
Disturbance in Gulf reminds the region to get ready
Officially, hurricane season begins June 1 each year. But in the past, the really scary stuff often didn’t develop before August, allowing months of procrastination and complacency, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune Editorial Board reports.
Feds, Florida officials detail crackdown on timeshare fraud
A new law enforcement crackdown on timeshare resale and travel fraud is being detailed in Miami by federal and state law enforcement officials, The Associated Press reports.
IRS rules The Villages can’t issue tax-exempt bonds
The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that The Villages, a retirement community in Central Florida, doesn’t have the right to issue the tax-exempt recreational and utility bonds that have been crucial to the development of the sprawling Tea Party member haven, Eloísa Ruano González reports for Orlando Sentinel.
Florida jobs agency calls for investigation of federal Labor department over jobless benefits
Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity wants Congress to investigate the Department of Labor’s investigations unit for what it calls a “politicized” investigation into its unemployment compensation system, The Florida Current’s Gray Rohrer reports.
Florida Attorney General, Department of Law Enforcement begin new campaign against human trafficking
Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement joined with other police agencies Wednesday to announce a new education campaign for combatting the “modern-day slavery” of human trafficking in Florida, The Florida Current’s Bill Cotterell reports.
Governor signs measure requiring emergency hospital care in botched abortions
Abortion rights advocates chided the Legislature for approving what they believe is an unnecessary measure instead of approving the expansion of Medicaid, which would provide health care services, including contraception and screenings, for more than 1.2 million uninsured Floridians, Dara Kam of the Palm Beach Post reports.
Louisiana Citizens Revises Claims Handling
Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. announced it has made significant enhancements to increase efficiency of claims filing, adjuster deployment and claims processing in advance of the 2013 hurricane season, Insurance Journal reports.
Texas Law Change Would Allow Reappraisals After Fertilizer Disaster
Hundreds of Texas property owners whose homes and businesses were damaged by the earth-rattling fertilizer plant explosion that devastated the town of West in April may catch a break on their property taxes under recently passed legislation, Associated Press reports in Insurance Journal.
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