Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Tuesday, February 14
Feb 14, 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
Florida’s 2012 Regular Legislative Session
- Click here for today’s Senate block calendar
- Click here for today’s House of Representatives block calendar
(CANCELED) 10:00 a.m.–Florida Surplus Lines Service Office National Clearinghouse Committee. To view the meeting notice, click here.
3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.–House Session
- HB 4169 relating to Insurance Company Excess Profits by State Representative Daniel Davis
- HB 4181 relating to Workers’ Compensation by State Representative Matt Caldwell
Citizens Property Insurance: Condominium rates to go up sharply
Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer of last resort, soon will begin raising rates for many high-rise condominiums in South Florida by 21 percent.
Imagine this nightmare scenario for a Florida homeowner.
Mobile home residents upset over broken glass piles
Residents of a mobile home park in Bradenton have contacted ABC 7 and asked for help about a mountain of broken glass next to their homes.
Opinion: Fighting fraud or helping insurance?
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty’s February 8 guest column, “Fix auto insurance by getting back to basics,” reveals only half of the story when it comes to personal injury reform in Florida.
Column: Personal Injury Protection overhaul would end massage therapy and acupuncture coverage
There is little debate about the need to overhaul Florida’s rife-with-fraud Personal Injury Protection coverage.
Red-light camera tweak speeds through Florida Senate panel
Legislation weakening the state’s red-light camera laws passed unanimously through the Senate Community Affairs Committee on Monday, getting another bill that would sync up yellow-light intervals tacked on to it in the process.
House moving ahead with stripped-down medical malpractice measure
A House budget panel removes sovereign immunity provisions from the bill, citing a projected $24.1 million impact but leaves other long-sought provisions intact.
Editorial: Florida’s missed opportunities to improve health care
Despite the hostility of Governor Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature to the federal health care reform law, Florida organizations have received $119.6 million in funds from it over the last two years.
Blog: Eric Brody settlement urged in Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy crash case
Brody was maimed for life when a BSO deputy crashed into him when he was just a teen-ager.
Blog: Florida Supreme Court sets redistricting arguments – later than Senate hoped
The Florida Supreme Court scheduled arguments Monday for the redistricting maps approved by lawmakers – but positioned the event closer to the Legislature’s finish than what many leading lawmakers had hoped.
Prison privatization clings to life in the Senate
A closely divided state Senate on Monday kept alive a plan to privatize correctional facilities across South Florida, setting the measure up for what is expected to be a tight vote on Tuesday.
Senate panel narrows scope of bill that would allow oil drilling on state land
The Senate energy committee amended SB 1158 to allow the drilling arrangements only on state lands that allow oil drilling and exploration in their management plans.
Blog: Florida lawmakers tread carefully with deregulation of professions this time
Rather than reignite a bitter debate over whether to remove from state oversight a series of professions including hair braiders and interior designers, lawmakers in 2012 are treading lightly in their quest to create jobs and spur the economy.
Municipal pension measure gets tangled up in committee
Senator Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, tabled SB 2088 after the Senate Community Affairs Committee killed an amendment supported by law enforcement unions, which would remove provisions that would increase cities’ ability to renegotiate retirement benefits with police and firefighter unions.
Florida is the only state in the nation that allows Social Security numbers to be distributed for the purpose of locating owners of unclaimed property.
Florida Senator Bill Montford withdraws controversial amendment backed by Florida Power & Light Co.
A Senate bill that includes Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s “modest” energy recommendations nearly became entangled Monday in a controversy over rate cases involving the state’s largest utility, Florida Power & Light Co.
House panel passes sweetened food stamp bill
A controversial provision prohibiting food stamps recipients from using government cash assistance from purchasing sugary, unhealthy foods was stripped from HB 1401 before passing out of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee on Monday.
Blog: Senate budget includes nearly 60 percent cut for University of South Florida
Days after the Florida Senate surprised the University of South Florida with a proposal to immediately spin off its Lakeland branch campus into the state’s 12th university, Senate budget writers proposed slashing University of South Florida’s state funding nearly 60 percent.
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says the state’s last-resort insurer has some options left in its pursuit to either stop or negotiate down a hefty multimillion-dollar judgment against it.
The House of Delegates unanimously passed a bill Monday morning that requires insurance companies that exclude coverage for earthquake damage to provide written notice of that and notify property owners that the insurance may be available for additional cost.
U.S. Volcker Rule Faces Harsh Critics as Date Nears
The world’s largest banks demanded a wish list of changes to a proposed U.S. ban on proprietary trading, seeking to escalate the lobbying effort against the Volcker rule five months before it takes effect.
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