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