Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, July 7
Jul 7, 2008
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Homeowner insurance tide turning in Florida
The state of Florida still has far more potential liability than available insurance coverage.
Some compare the state’s insurance coverage today to those old Coppertone ads where the puppy is pulling the swimsuit bottom off a sun-splashed toddler: The exposure is not just embarrassing, it could be painful.
New insurers finding a niche in Florida
Michael Gold said they forced his hand. A retired office products company executive, he watched the insurance premium on his home jump more than 400 percent over the past few years.
Hurricane funding deal faces criticism
The state placed a $220 million bet Wednesday as a hedge against catastrophic hurricane damage this year, but decided at the last minute to protect Floridians from higher insurance premiums to pay for the plan.
Premiums cost less, so schools buy more insurance
After getting through hurricane season on positive attitude and prayers the past couple of years, the Seminole County School Board is increasing insurance coverage on its $1.5 billion worth of buildings. It had been sharing $100 million in coverage with four other districts, but starting Tuesday it will have $200 million on its own. With no big storms striking since 2005, premiums are more reasonable, officials say — if you call $1.75 million reasonable.
New condo, association laws now effective
Homeowners who flew their American flags on the won’t have to wait until Veterans Day to fly them again. A new state law says they can fly their flags every day of the year even if their association rules say they can’t.
If FEMA changes flood maps, some Treasure Coast homeowners might have to buy flood insurance
A national project to redraw local flood maps could force some people to buy costly insurance policies and allow others to opt out of them.
Collier hoping to reduce flood insurance rates countywide
Its one analysis after another, but at the end of the squall and rainbow is a dollar and cents savings for Collier County residents carrying flood insurance.
Data backups, restores for small companies done flawlessly; deployment within 15 minutes; offsite, online backup enables personal trust, ‘peace of mind’
Advanced data protection technology, being deployed by a Lakeland-based firm, means hurricane season will contain one less headache for dozens of small businesses throughout Central Florida.
Allied American Underwriters Launches High Value Home Insurance Program
Allied American Underwriters (AAU), a national program manager headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has introduced a high value homeowners program that is available on a national basis.
Adjusting policy can reduce cost of homeowners insurance
Cash-strapped consumers coping with rising prices for food, gas and electricity may want to explore ways to save on homeowner insurance.
COLUMN:Â How to fix insurance: Let state run it
What is insurance anyway? Insurance assumes that all persons are potentially at risk for a major loss, but that actual losses occur on a random basis. To prevent a random event from wreaking havoc on individual disaster victims, losses are covered by a large financial pool to which everybody contributes a modest sum.
400,000 Inspections and 35,000 Grants Later, My Safe Florida Home Sign-Ups Come To An End
Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announced that the My Safe Florida Home program will meet the Florida Legislature’s goal of approving 400,000 homeowners for free wind inspections a full year ahead of schedule. The program will cease to take new applications in the next few days.
Governor’s veto preserves health inspections of association pools
Do you want to know what you or your child is sticking your toe — or nose — into when you take a swim in your homeowners association pool?
New law streamlines Florida business regulations
Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law a bill that will streamline regulations for businesses in the state. The new law mainly affects the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
COLUMN:Â McCollum is playing the political card with lawsuit against Countrywide
When Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum sued Countrywide Financial Corp. last week, he accused the disgraced mortgage lender of a pattern of deceptive trade practices.
Court ruling nixing Crist, Seminole gambling deal doesn’t stop blackjack, slots
Blackjack hands are still being dealt at the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s casino in Hollywood despite a state Supreme Court ruling Thursday nixing the deal that allowed them.
Congress soon may change law to make flood protection mandatory for many homeowners
Before Hurricane Katrina destroyed the levees of New Orleans, Grand Forks, N.D., was the largest American city drowned by a failed levee.
Uphill climb against Florida Sen. Fasano has party push
Fred Taylor faced a decision. A Republican with three Purple Hearts from the Vietnam War, he wanted to run for office.
In Florida, Multiple Political Battlegrounds Take Shape
Florida’s status as a key battleground state this fall won’t be limited to presidential politics.
SW Florida:Â Get ready for some spirited primaries
Independence Day is over, but the political fireworks in the region are just about to get under way.
Vigorous campaigning is always welcome
Qualifying for public office ended on June 20; technical challenges have been issued and apparently resolved in at least one key legislative race, House District 9, which was held for eight years by term-limited Rep. Loranne Ausley. Though the letter of the law has been applied, it is unfortunate that now voters’ choices for her successor are reduced.
Their right to vote is back, but they don’t know it
Florida restored civil rights to Coleman Felts, 67, of Miami on May 23, but the former construction worker had no idea.
Number of youth voters on Treasure Coast increases 500 percent
Across the Treasure Coast, the number of people under 29 registered to vote is more than six times larger than it was eight years ago.
EDITORIAL:Â Even in death, Hughes will be GOP force
Ralph Hughes’ death last month is also a political obituary. No single person spent as much of his own time and money as this concrete magnate did to push Hillsborough’s Republican leadership to the conservative fringe. His passing not only creates a void; it could fundamentally alter the face of Republican politics immediately — and for years to come.
COLUMN:Â Legislator Faces House Rules Hearing
The Florida House has set aside two hours for a hearing to determine if Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, violated House rules by allegedly using state equipment and a state employee for political purposes.
New laws impact everything from traffic fines to education
Court costs and traffic fines are now more expensive. New motorcyclists and young ATV drivers now must take driving or safety courses.
COMMENTARY–The Injustice Express: Train To Nowhere
Commuter rail has the potential to be an alternative to the rising gas prices and roadway congestion. Just because the CSX bill did not survive the 2008 legislative session does not mean that the idea of commuter rail has to die along with it. However, any plan devised must be fair to all Floridians, not just wealthy corporations.
Miami 21 plan is back on fast track to vote
After months in limbo, the city of Miami’s far-reaching but controversial Miami 21 rezoning plan has suddenly picked up steam again and is on a fast track to a commission vote in December.
Progress Energy gets positive review of $14B nuclear plant
Progress Energy’s proposed nuclear plant in Levy County has a positive review from the Public Service Commission staff. If the full regulatory commission agrees, Progress customers would see higher bills.
Jeb Bush keeps a high-impact low profile
When Jeb Bush visited Kingston, Jamaica, last July, his hosts pulled out all the stops. They brought in a military band, threw a lavish reception at the home of the island’s governor general and paid $60,000 for him to give a speech. The theme of the speech? Entrepreneurial capitalism.
Nuclear power on the way at JEA
JEA is finalizing a contract that would blend 206 megawatts of nuclear energy – enough energy to light up about 20,000 homes – into the region’s power portfolio.
The energy, which will be critical as the region grows, will be purchased from a nuclear plant in Eastern Georgia and make up about 5 percent of the utility’s energy mix.
Wedding bells to ring for Crist, fiancée
Gov. Charlie Crist is engaged.
The state’s first bachelor governor in more than 35 years proposed Thursday to girlfriend Carole Rome on the balcony of his condo in St. Petersburg. The couple have been dating for nine months.
What was on Crist’s to-do list in black book
The plain black book may look innocuous, but it’s the ultimate to-do list, an insider’s guide to Gov. Charlie Crist at work.
Catherine Weatherford, executive vice president and CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, is leaving her post, the NAIC confirmed.
As its first international appointee, the Bermuda Monetary Authority this week named Alabama Insurance Commissioner Walter A. Bell to its board of directors.
Employers use federal law to deny benefits
Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer. ‘He was obsessed with dotting every ‘i’ and crossing every ‘t’,’ Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30.
Levee suit seeks crack in federal immunity wall
Victims of the recent Midwest flooding disaster will soon learn a bitter lesson that victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans already know: If they are hoping to sue the federal government over the inadequacy of levees and other flood-control projects that were supposed to protect them, they will likely be out of luck.
Catalytic-converter thefts from cars burgeoning
Marty Boyer’s carefully maintained sport utility vehicle growled more like a dragster than a 2001 Honda Passport when he turned the key. ‘The second I turned it over, and it sounded like a tank and a Harley, I knew exactly what had occurred,’ said Boyer, 33. A half-dozen office colleagues had told him about that roar after their own catalytic converters were stolen, a crime that is rising rapidly across America, from riverside parking lots in Cincinnati to highways along the California coast.
European Insurers Are Again Courting Banks
European insurance companies once again are seeking closer ties with banks to help increase their sales to a wider range of clients. But unlike a decade ago, when takeovers were fashionable, today companies are looking at looser arrangements.
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