Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Tuesday, September 27
Sep 27, 2011
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
(CANCELED) 10:00 a.m.–Florida Surplus Lines Service Office National Clearinghouse Committee meeting. Agenda includes issues pertaining to the proposed national surplus lines tax clearinghouse. To view the meeting notice, click here.
10:00 a.m.–Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association Annual Membership and Board of Governors Meeting. Sarasota, Florida. To view the meeting notice, click here.
A possible federal government shutdown this week should have little if any impact on emergency management operations in Florida, state officials said Monday.
Homeowners Choice Inc. Stock Upgraded
Homeowners Choice, Inc., an insurance holding company, provides property and casualty insurance in Florida.
A startup insurance brokerage led by two former Brown & Brown executives has made its first acquisition.
Editorial: High rates only a symptom of larger problem
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty cuts Citizens Insurance rate request.
Letter to the Editor: Florida’s geology is changing
I gasped after reading Matthew Glans’ comment concerning the rise of sinkholes not being due to “any naturally occurring phenomenon (Florida’s geology hasn’t changed) but rather lawyers out for their next payday.”
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA: Surge in Massage Therapist Exemption Requests Linked to Increase Fraud
A recent surge in waivers from state licensing for massage therapists is being eyed by state officials trying to clamp down on auto crash injury insurance fraud, a working group heard Monday.
Personal Injury Protection’s cap set in 1979 is far below 2011 realities, insurance industry says
The second meeting of Insurance Consumer Advocate Robin Westcott’s personal injury protection work group picked up where the first meeting left off: With members taking jabs at one another.
Governor Rick Scott said Monday he is “getting close” to finalizing his legislative agenda, which he promised to have ready after the Presidency 5 events last week.
Hialeah police to arrest drivers with fake insurance cards
Hialeah police are promising to arrest drivers caught with fake insurance cards during a one-day citywide crack down.
Florida’s challenge to federal health care reform moves a step closer to U.S. Supreme Court
The Justice Department did not seek a circuit court rehearing by Monday’s deadline, which increases the chances that the challenge will reach the high court during its upcoming term.
Jackson Health System expects to lose about $85 million this year
Jackson Health System expects to finish its fiscal year — which ends Friday — with “11 or 12 days of cash on hand,” Chief Financial Officer Mark Knight told the governing board Monday at its monthly meeting.
Florida lawmakers straining budgets of children’s hospitals
McClatchy and Kaiser Health News are reporting that recent decisions by Florida lawmakers have leaders of the state’s children’s hospitals worried about their budgets.
Miami-Dade County fires Deloitte Consulting over healthcare benefits feud
Miami-Dade County, frustrated over what it asserts is an inability to get a straight answer, fired Deloitte Consulting LLP as its employee-benefits consultant Monday, alleging breach of contract.
Federal court hears Florida welfare drug testing case
The hearing is a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and a Navy veteran against the new state law that requires welfare recipients to undergo drug testing.
Florida backs President Obama’s plan for No Child Left Behind Act
After years of waiting for Congress to act, local education leaders are glad to see President Barack Obama stepping forward with a plan that will allow states to opt out of sanctions imposed under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Guns are now allowed in parks, government buildings
To comply with new state laws, Tamarac, Lauderhill and North Lauderdale are removing their firearms ordinances.
National Solar Power picks Gadsden County for $1.5 billion solar facility
National Solar Power of Melbourne said Monday it has chosen Gadsden County for a $1.5-billion solar power project that will create 120 permanent jobs and 400 construction jobs.
Broward GOP blocks Muslim from top committee
Islam and tea-party activism clashed at a raucous meeting Monday night when a group of Broward County Republicans blocked a Muslim activist as a member of the party’s executive committee.
Ousted Florida prisons chief deposed in union lawsuit challenging privatization
Despite Governor Rick Scott’s attempts to quash his testimony, former Department of Corrections Secretary Ed Buss spent two-and-a-half hours Monday answering questions under oath for a lawsuit about the state’s planned privatization of 29 prisons in the southern half of the state.
Dip in Gas Prices Pumping Increase in Florida Lotto
More people are buying Florida lottery tickets as gas prices dip.
On Forbes 400 list of richest, 29 billionaires call Florida home
With $59 billion, Bill Gates enjoys a comfortable $20 billion lead over the second-richest American, Warren Buffett, in this year’s Forbes ranking of the 400 richest Americans.
House May Not Be Around to Reconcile Bill Containing National Flood Insurance Program Extension
Extension of the current authorization for the National Flood Insurance Program will be hanging in the air today if a planned Senate vote on a continuing resolution conflicts with an earlier House vote.
Texas Denies State Farm’s Catastrophe Petition
The Texas Department of Insurance has denied a catastrophe determination petition submitted by State Farm Insurance Cos. in response to wildfires that have plagued the state in September.
South Carolina: Some in area lose hurricane insurance; Nationwide terminating coverage for 750 homes
James Island resident Anne Peterson Hutto said her family has been paying Nationwide for homeowners’ insurance for 15 years and never filed a claim, so she was upset to learn that the insurer plans to drop her hurricane coverage.
Surplus-Lines Premiums Decline in 2010 Due to Competition, Shrinking Exposure Base
A declining exposure base and a high level of competition conspired to cause a fourth year of declining written premiums in 2010 for the surplus-lines industry, according to an A.M. Best Special Report.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an email to Brooke Ellis at bellis@cftlaw.com.