Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Tuesday, June 25

Jun 25, 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 Cabinet meeting.  To view the complete agenda, click here.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation meetings; Miami, Florida

  • 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.–Market Accountability Advisory Committee meeting.  Teleconference:  866-361-7525; participant code:  7849939192#.  To view the meeting notice, click here.
  • 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.–Consumer Services Committee meeting.  Teleconference:  866-361-7525; participant code:  6487811620#.  To view the meeting notice, click here.
  • 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.–Audit Committee meeting.  Teleconference:  866-361-7525; participant code:  3877541849#.  To view the meeting notice, click here.
  • 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.–Finance and Investment Committee meeting.  Teleconference:  866-361-7525; participant code:  2478401990#.  To view the meeting notice, click here. 
  • 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.–Actuarial and Underwriting Committee meeting.  Teleconference:  866-361-7525; participant code:  2478401990#.  To view the meeting notice, click here.

 

 

Daily Florida Insurance-Related News

 

Florida Citizens Insurance weighs rate hike at Miami meeting

As Citizens Property Insurance Corp. maneuvers to jettison hundreds of thousands of Florida homeowner policies to reduce its risk, its board is set to gather in Miami on Wednesday to weigh rate hikes for next year, Martha Brannigan reports for The Miami Herald.

 

Florida Certifies Hurricane Models

RMS says the Florida Commission on Loss Projection Methodology approved its U.S. Hurricane Model version 13.0 for use after reviewing updates to the long term rate set, new geocoding updates, and new post-analysis adjustments for return period losses to account for annual deductibles required by Florida statute, National Underwriter’s PropertyCasualty360.com reports.

 

Number of unrepaired Florida sinkhole homes seems to be decreasing

Fifty-seven percent of homes with sinkhole damage reported in the first quarter of 2013 remain unrepaired, writes Dan DeWitt for Tampa Bay Times.

 

State Representative Rodrigues Says Lower Reinsurance Costs Should Make Florida Property Insurance Rates Decrease

Florida’s property insurance companies are paying less for reinsurance than they were last year, but those savings are not being passed on to their policyholders, and one state representative is demanding to know why, Eric Giunta reports for SunshineStateNews.com.

 

Florida State Representatives Bill Hager and Kevin Rader Are Panelists for Bermuda Insurance Summit

Politics is set to play a major role in this year’s Insurance Day Summit Bermuda conference with two members of the Florida House of Representatives flying in to take part in a panel discussion on insuring the $3 trillion Florida property market, Rebecca Zull reports for the Royal Gazette.

 

Fair Insurance Rates for Monroe Leaders Take Insurance Stakeholders on Keys Building Code Field Trip

Florida Keys leaders and insurance rate advocates took state legislators, consumer advocates and insurance officials on a field trip Monday to give them an up-close look and better understanding of the local building codes and structural integrity of buildings, reports Timothy O’Hara for KeysNews.com.

 

Florida Among Areas Trending Toward Uninsurable in Climate Change Era, Geneva Association Says

The Geneva Association, a leading think tank of the global insurance industry, is worried some areas in the world are becoming uninsurable because of climate change, Andrew Tjaardstra writes for Insurance Insight.

 

Allstate Files Suit in Florida, New York for Medical Supply Fraud Damages

Allstate Insurance Company is seeking to recover $6.6 million in treble damages against 80 New York and Florida area defendants in its 4th insurance fraud lawsuit of 2013. Since 2003, Allstate has filed 48 fraud lawsuits in New York State seeking more than $237 million in damages. 

 

Tampa Bay moves closer to driverless cars reality

Today, Tampa became one step closer to driverless vehicles on Florida highways, reports Phil Ammann for SaintPetersBlog.com.

 

Interview With Newly Elected State Representative Mike Hill, a State Farm Agent

Voters in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties this month elected Pensacola Republican Mike Hill to replace state Rep. Clay Ford, a Gulf Breeze Republican who died of cancer in March, writes Peter Schorsch of SaintPetersBlog.com, in this reprinted interview from THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA.

 

THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA:  Florida Blue Cross to be big factor in health exchange

Florida Blue, the insurance company formerly known as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, is gearing up to be a major player in a health-insurance exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act. 

 

Blog:  South Florida town halls to take on Medicaid expansion issue

Broward County legislators Tuesday will gather health care providers, business groups and a few Democrats still stinging from the Legislature’s rejection of a push to expand Medicaid to 1.1 million low-income Floridians under the Affordable Care Act, blogs John Kennedy for the Palm Beach Post.

 

ACLU seeks federal probe of Florida’s drug database

The Palm Beach Post political blog reports the American Civil Liberty Union of Florida is seeking a federal probe into a breach of the state’s drug database, SaintPetersBlog.com notes.

 

Florida Supreme Court chooses new clerk

A Tallahassee lawyer with experience defending Death Row prisoners and expertise in court technology will become clerk of the Florida Supreme Court next November, Bill Cotterell reports for The Florida Current.

 

Blog:  Florida Governor Rick Scott signs “landmark” foster care legislation

Gov. Rick Scott signed the Nancy C. Detert Common Sense and Compassion Independent Living Act Monday — for the second time.  Along with giving young adults the option of staying in foster care, the new law requires a transition plan be made for those who are leaving the child welfare system, Rochelle Koff reports for the Tampa Bay Times.

 

Mia Jones Gets Republican Challenger for 2014 First Coast Florida House Race

Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville, is one of the leading Democrats on the First Coast but, for the first time since 2008, she will face a Republican challenger in the next general election, Kevin Derby reports for SunshineStateNews.com.

 

Senate Majority Leader Lizbeth Benacquisto tells how she’s spending her summer vacation

To Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, being away from family is the most difficult part of session.  But for the second-term State Senator, the rest of the process seems to come unusually naturally: she took on challenging, important issues this year and worked for the successful passage of each one of them, Peter Schorsch reports for the latest installment of SaintPetersBlog.com’s “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.”

 

Mississippi Medicaid special session starts Thursday

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is calling lawmakers into special session at 10 a.m. Thursday and asking them to do in less than four days what they didn’t do in three months. He wants them to adopt a Medicaid budget and keep the program alive once the new fiscal year begins July 1 – all without adding people to the plan, the Tampa Tribune reports.

 

Federal Judge Upholds Mississippi Non-Economic Damages Cap

A federal judge has upheld Mississippi’s cap of $500,000 on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, Jack Elliot Jr. reports for Insurance Journal.

 

 

Click here to follow Colodny Fass& Webb on Twitter (@CFTLAWcom)

 

 

 

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an e-mail to Brooke Ellis at bellis@cftlaw.com.