Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Tuesday, April 16
Apr 16, 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
Florida’s 2013 Regular Legislative Session
- Click here for today’s Senate block calendar
- Click here for today’s House of Representatives block calendar
9 a.m.–Senate Session
- CS/SB 1770 relating to Property Insurance
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.–Florida Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance meeting. To view the complete agenda, click here. Agenda includes:
- Confirmation of Citizens Property Insurance Executive Director Barry Gilway
- SB 1020 relating to Banking
- SB 1262 relating to Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund
- SPB 7152 relating to Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance
- SPB 7150 relating to Public Records/Insurance Policies
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
Consumer Groups Say Citizens Property Insurance Bill is Unnecessary and Damaging
Opponents of a sweeping overhaul of the law governing Citizens Property Insurance Corp. were in the Capitol on Monday visiting lawmakers, trying to sway enough to reject the measure before it comes up for a final floor vote on Tuesday, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA’s Jim Turner reports.
The Florida Current’s Gray Rohrer reports that consumer advocate groups railed against SB 1770 on Monday. The bill would soften the 10 percent annual rate cap for new Citizens Property Insurance Corp. customers.
SB1770 could blow Florida property insurance prices sky high
Sun-Sentinel columnist Mike Mayo notes that a consumer-unfriendly bill sailing through the Legislature (SB1770) is poised to wreak havoc on wallets, and could blow away Florida’s fragile real estate recovery.
Sun-Sentinel Cartoonist Chan Lowe on Citizens Property Insurance
The irritating part about Florida’s property insurance crisis is that we’re paying for storms that already happened, and the Big Storm that is to come, explains Sun-Sentinel Editorial Cartoonist Chan Lowe.
Florida being invaded by house-eating, tire-puncturing giant snail
The giant African land snail is a massive mollusk now infesting Miami-Dade County and threatening other parts of Florida, CNN reports.
Blog: Lawsuit alleges massive fraud by Florida life insurance companies
The Tampa Bay Business Journal reports on a lawsuit alleging that possibly billions of dollars in proceeds from life insurance policies have not been paid out to Florida beneficiaries.
Representative Mike Fasano offered a proposal mirroring a Senate plan to provide an additional million Floridians with health insurance. However, the House Select Committee on PPACA backed a plan covering fewer people and rejecting federal money available under the ACA, The Florida Current’s James Call reports.
Villages nursing home Certificate of Need bill advances
The Florida Current’s James Call reports that lawmakers placed a moratorium on new nursing home beds while the state transitions to a statewide managed-care programs, and yet a proposal that would relax rules on building new nursing homes was advanced yesterday by a Senate Committee.
Blue Cross of Florida, Hospitals Seek Legislative Help
Health News Florida’s Carol Gentry reports that the Florida Hospital Association and a group that represents “safety-net” hospitals are asking their members to lobby lawmakers against an amendment they expect to be filed early this week.
Florida Senate Approves Medical Malpractice Expert Witness Bill
The Insurance Journal reports that the Florida Senate is making it harder to pursue medical malpractice claims. The Senate last week voted 27-12 for the bill and sent it to the House.
Florida federal appeals court weighs First Amendment in grassroots property rights ballot fight
Angered by a ballot proposal that they considered an “affront” to property rights, four southwest Florida residents in 2010 decided to pool $600 and buy local radio ads to fight the measure, reports Jim Saunders of THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA.
Ethics Chairman accuses fellow Senator of faking her voting address
Senator Jack Latvala, Chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, accused fellow senator Maria Sachs of violating Florida’s election laws and the state constitution by falsifying her voting address so she could qualify to run last November in one of the most contested and expensive legislative races of 2012, The Florida Current’s veteran journalist Bill Cotterell reports.
Pensacola City Councilman First Jack Nobles is First Qualifier for House District 2 Special Election
Peter Schorsch of SaintPetersBlog.com reports that former Pensacola City Councilman Jack Nobles announced he has acquired all of the necessary signatures to qualify as a candidate for the special election for House District 2, making him the first candidate in the race to do so.
Proposed Florida elections changes prompt new concerns
Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle wants the Legislature to reinstate an old Florida law requiring voters to obtain a witness signature from someone 18 or older in order to cast an absentee ballot, Tampa Bay Times’ Steve Bousquet explains.
Florida Senate may not confirm some Governor’s picks
Associated Press reporter Gary Fineout reports via Sarasota Herald-Tribune that Florida’s Surgeon General may be among appointments by Florida Governor Rick Scott that could be jeopardy of getting passed up this year by the Florida Senate.
Incumbent Florida Senators Hold Deep War Chests
Expect a host — no, call it a super-host — of familiar faces in the Florida Senate to return in 2014, Jeff Henderson of SunshineStateNews.com reports. Not a single member of the upper chamber faces term limits next year, but never mind that — so far they’ve raised some serious cash while drawing virtually no opposition.
Corruption Conviction Upheld In Mississippi Attorney Scruggs’ Case
The Insurance Journal’s Holbrook Mohr reports that federal appeals court panel has upheld the conviction of Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, one of Mississippi’s most prominent attorneys before going to prison on judicial corruption charges.
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