Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Wednesday, December 26

Dec 26, 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

 

There are no Florida insurance-related events scheduled for today.

 

 

Daily Insurance-Related News


Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe County:  Insurance-rate study to be done in November 

Now that the governing board of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has agreed to fund a $485,000 Florida Keys study of windstorm rates, the mechanics of getting that study done begin.

 

Soggy homes, displaced families: Debby effects linger in Pasco

It has been six months and the ground floor is still a wasteland, the lower portion of the walls ripped out, the tiles bubbling up from the wetness that still festers underneath. It smells of mold. Outside, the septic tank is still broken; what is flushed flows through a pipe into a quarantined section of the property.

 

Florida moves closer to approving cheaper, replacement-cost policy

Regulators have moved toward approval of a controversial new insurance policy for Citizens customers that offers less coverage and costs 22.9 percent less than its standard policy, a state spokeswoman said late Friday, but restrictions may limit its availability.

 

R-Street:  Cat fund disaster

Advocates of expanding or retaining the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (CAT Fund) at its current level are either misguided or knowingly peddling false coverage.

 

Audobon of Florida: Sandy should be our wake-up call

Let’s prepare by working toward reform of Citizens, Cat Fund

Superstorm Sandy left behind vast devastation and a chilling reminder of the powerful destruction just one act of Mother Nature can exact on our nation.

 

Bill would strengthen safety regulations for parasailing

Local senator says he hasn’t heard complaints on state standards

Another parasailing death in 2012 has motivated a state senator to draft a bill that, if passed, would implement a slew of safety regulations for the popular Panama City Beach activity.

 

Wall Street Journal:  Florida Pill Mill Crackdown Sets Off a Rush Into Georgia

After his Florida used-car dealership failed two summers ago, Jeffrey Gonzalez decided to switch careers. So he moved to Georgia and opened a clinic prescribing opioid painkillers.

 

Florida Supreme Court: No private talks in medical malpractice case

The Florida Supreme Court today blocked an insurance-company attorney from speaking privately with a doctor who treated a plaintiff in a medical-malpractice case, ruling that state law “creates a broad and expansive physician-patient privilege of confidentiality.”

 

New York Times:  Bill McBride, 2002 Democratic Nominee for Florida Governor, Dies

Bill McBride, a Florida Democrat who defeated former Attorney General Janet Reno for the party’s 2002 nomination for governor but then lost to Gov. Jeb Bush in the general election, died on Saturday while visiting his family in Mount Airy, N.C. He was 67.

 

Race for Democratic party chairman in Florida heats up

As Florida Democrats glimpse rays of hope for a long-sought political comeback, their race for party chairman is becoming competitive and heated.

 

Payback time: Florida homeowners foreclosing on banks

Since the housing bubble burst in Florida five years ago, more than 400,000 borrowers have had their homes foreclosed on by their lenders.

 

Florida led the nation in death sentences in 2012, report says

A report by a national nonprofit group that studies the death penalty found that Florida remains among the most active states in using it and put more defendants on death row in 2012 than any other state.

 

Florida forgave $124.2 million in taxes, fines this year

For the third year in a row, Florida is giving up on collecting more than $100 million in taxes, fees and fines owed the state.

 

Blog:  All Aboard Florida train could generate $145M in annual fares

A proposed train that would link Orlando International Airport with Miami could generate $145 million in annual fares by 2018, according to records filed by the company with the Florida Department of Transportation, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

 

South Florida poised for record tourism in 2013, thanks to international visitors, travel leaders say

South Florida is poised for another record year in tourism in 2013, fueled by gains in international visitors, travel executives predict.

 

THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA:  State Representative Matt Hudson–A Q&A ranging from health-care issues to real estate recovery

As chair of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee, state Rep. Matt Hudson is the top health-care budget writer in the House – and will have to deal with all the difficulties that come with that.

 

Ohio insurance agents get break on state license renewal

Ohio has reduced the fees that insurance agents and agencies pay to have licenses renewed late or reinstated.

 

National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing Authority Increase Cleared for Senate Vote, but Faces Obstacles in House 

The fate of what is seen as a needed increase in the borrowing authority of the National Flood Insurance Program before year-end is in doubt as Congress breaks until Wednesday.

 

Texas Windstorm Rates to Increase January 1

Texas’ property insurer of last resort in coastal counties has issued a reminder to agents that while the maximum limits of liability for residential and commercial properties will remain the same in 2013 as they were in 2012, both commercial and residential premium rates will rise beginning Jan. 1, 2013.

 

Q&A with Ray Farmer, South Carolina’s new insurance director

Two weeks into his new job as the state’s top insurance regulator, Ray Farmer sat in a sunny corner of his office, a spectacular perch on the 10th floor of a skyscraper across the street from the Statehouse.

 

 

 

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