Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Friday, June 1

Today on C-SPAN:  McCain Visits With Nationwide Employees

This afternoon (June 1) a live “Road to the White House” (C-SPAN, 3:30) with coverage of an hour-long town hall meeting featuring Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and employees at Des Moines-based Nationwide Insurance.

 

Governor boosting Florida’s economic climate

TEL AVIV, Israel — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for 45 minutes Thursday, pushing for increased trade between the Sunshine State and Israel.

Crist’s also told Olmert of his intention to sign a bill that will remove Florida pension fund money out of companies that do business with Iran and Sudan.

 

DMV guards against cutbacks as end to no-fault law looms

With just days left in the spring session, top Republicans were warned that the end of the state’s no-fault auto insurance law this October could result in deep budget cuts for the state agency that oversees motorists.

 

44 State AGs Settle with ChoicePoint Over Information Privacy Breach

Attorneys general from 44 states have signed an agreement with a Georgia-based company that distributes consumers’ personal information to settle allegations that the company failed to adequately maintain the privacy of that information.

 

State Farm mulls auto rate cuts

State Farm will be able to cut its car insurance rates by about 16 percent on average if lawmakers do not continue the state’s no-fault accident system, state insurance regulators have ruled. The Office of Insurance Regulation on Tuesday granted State Farm’s request to lower rates by an average of about $360 a year for two-car households, although the reduction amount would vary widely depending on coverages, geography and other factors. The proposed rate decrease by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, Florida’s largest auto insurer, are contingent on the no-fault system ending in October as it is currently scheduled to do.

 

Ask The Governor: Is auto injury protection a necessity?

Q: The next important issue is a prevention of the lapse of PIP [Personal Injury Protection] insurance for Florida citizens and the freezing of auto rates. The way people drive down here, especially in South Florida, we need protection from injuries. The trial lawyers, although much maligned, do a public good but need the law in place to help us in the eventuality of personal injury through an accident. What do you propose to do in light of the fact that the Legislature is balking at renewal or re-enactment of PIP?

 

Insurer expands help for pricier homes

What is the new protection program?

It sends out strike teams after a storm to slap tarps on roofs, board up broken windows and take other steps to minimize damage.

Who is eligible?

AIG’s private-client group policyholders whose homes have a replacement value of $1 million or more, or at least $10,000 a year in premiums.

 

Active hurricane season, tight gas supply may mean pain at pump 

With gas prices at record highs because of low imports, a number of fuel analysts have issued warnings that an active season could send prices soaring.

 

AP Finds 5 Vulnerable Hurricane Areas

Just because Katrina was the perfect storm, a catastrophic combo of the wrong hurricane in the wrong place at the wrong time, doesn’t mean that history can’t repeat itself, leaving another city obliterated by another tempest. It can.

And as we enter what weather prognosticators are euphemistically calling another “active season,” citizens and civil servants from Texas to New England are asking themselves: Where’s the next New Orleans?

 

Universal Posts Profit

Universal Health Care Insurance Co.,sponsor of the Any, Any, Any plan for Medicare enrollees, said Thursday that it booked a $14 million profit for April. That brings its surplus after three months of operation to $20 million, the St. Petersburg company said. It remains under state supervision, which began in February after the state insurance commissioner said the company had inadequate financial reserves.

 

Many coastal residents still not prepared for hurricanes

Companies Accused of $8B Flood Program Ripoff

Insurers and adjusters who handled Hurricane Katrina damage claims in Louisiana defrauded the National Flood Insurance Program of an estimated $8 billion, according to an attorney who filed a federal suit for a whistleblowers group.

 

Rubio urges leaders to control reform of property taxes

WEST PALM BEACH — If Florida legislators don’t make property taxes “affordable” in an upcoming special session, angry taxpayers are likely to take matters into their own hands with unpredictable results, House Speaker Marco Rubio told a business group Thursday.

 

Pumps at risk in storm outages

As the 2007 hurricane season kicks off today, more than two-thirds of Florida’s gas stations required to be ready to run their pumps off generators have failed to meet the state’s deadline.

“They’ve had a year,” said state Rep. Sandra Adams, R-Orlando, who sponsored the bill passed last year that was designed to get stations powered back up quickly after hurricanes. “They should be ready.”

 

Limited Impact Seen From Collateral Change

HOUSTON (AP) — The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who helped discover the molecular structure of DNA has become the first person to receive his own personal genome map.

William S. Lerach, one of the most powerful securities class-action lawyers in the nation, is considering plans to leave the law firm he founded three years ago.

New Jersey has surpassed its goal of enrolling an additional 50,000 children in the state’s health insurance program by July, state officials said yesterday. Jennifer Velez, the acting human services commissioner, said 96,000 additional children had enrolled in the program since Gov. Jon S. Corzine announced the goal in February 2006. The program, NJ FamilyCare, provides free or low-cost health insurance to people, depending on their income. Currently, 536,102 children and 163,303 adults are covered.

 

Blue Cross unveils 18-wheeler Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida unveils a new promotional vehicle this afternoon, “The Florida Blue Tour,” at a press event at its Lake Mary office.