Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, June 11

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Love of property tax cap is a huge hurdle

Save Our Homes, the constitutional amendment that has shielded homeowners from taxes on $404 billion worth of property value this year, has spawned a new tax revolt in Tallahassee: Save Us From Save Our Homes.

 

The end of no-fault insurance:  Legislators will have to rescue the progam, but should they?

Who could argue with a major auto-insurance price reduction?

State Farm, Florida’s largest auto insurer with more than 20 percent of the market, plans to cut rates by 16 percent on Oct 1. Other companies are expected to announce their reductions soon.

 

Condo’s adjuster prevails in storm case

The Tiara condominium can’t get a break.

A federal jury has found that the Singer Island condo’s public adjuster did a proper job on the hurricane-ravaged tower and that the adjuster should be awarded $1.5 million, the rest of its fee.

   
The other insurance crisis

The Legislature spent a special session this year on property insurance, the cost of which threatens the state’s economy. The Legislature spent almost no time on medical malpractice insurance, the cost of which supposedly threatens the state’s health-care system.

 

OP-ED:  PIP INSURANCE:  Law needs another year 
 
Florida’s roadways are about to become more dangerous, its courtrooms more crowded and its residents left less protected — all because Big Insurance wants to drop a less-profitable coverage option for the promise of higher rates down the road.

 

Children’s health care program appears left behind

TALLAHASSEE — An effort to make it easier for poor children to keep health care appears to be faltering because legislative leaders want instead to concentrate on tax cuts.

 

Wind-engineering firm has tunnel vision

Think of the mini-metropolis movie set of King Kong fame, then imagine it in the furor of a hurricane.  That is essentially the job of RWDI, the world’s largest privately owned wind-engineering firm. The Canadian company hosted a grand opening last week in Miramar for its newest testing facility.

 

Mobile home owners decry Crist veto of hurricane funds

TALLAHASSEE — Mobile home residents around the state listened intently during the past several months as certified contractors outlined a series of state-funded improvements that backers say would help shelter them from a hurricane.

 

Ex-Dade official accepts FEMA spot

Another South Floridian is taking a top job at the Federal Emergency Management Agency: Former Miami-Dade Emergency Manager Carlos Castillo will become an assistant administrator of the embattled agency.

 

Marco Island studying possible special assessment to pay for fire department

The city’s unique approach to combating potential state property tax reform is considered ‘aggressive’

Of local governments, the city of Marco Island is taking the most aggressive approach to combat potential state property tax reform with alternative sources of revenue. Whether that tactic is prudent or premature depends on whom you ask.

 

RIMS Challenges Latest Broker Compensation Plans

Still sensitive to potential conflicts of interest following allegations of bid-rigging and account steering against major brokerages and carriers, the Risk and Insurance Management Society has called on insurers to pull back their latest bonus compensation plans for brokers.

 

State Democrats To Keep Primary

HOLLYWOOD – A Florida Democratic Party governing committee voted Sunday to proceed with a presidential primary Jan. 29, setting up a collision with the national party.

The action leaves uncertain how and whether state Democrats’ primary votes will be counted.

 

60 percent in Florida say legalize immigrants

Three in five likely Florida voters say they back legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants largely along the lines of a controversial measure now stalled in the U.S. Senate.

 

Op-Ed:  Putting a Premium on Disaster

Althought the insurance industry just agreed to pay $2 billion to help rebuild the World Trade Center site — bringing the total paid to $4.55 billion, the biggest insurance settlement ever — that doesn’t mean that the private sector alone can handle terrorism insurance.

 

States Finding Fiscal Surprise: A Cash Surplus

State lawmakers across the country, their coffers unexpectedly full of cash, have been handing out tax cuts, spending money on fixing roads, schools and public buildings, and socking something away for less fruitful years.

 

Risks and Rewards:  Who Pays for Efficiency?

Indeed, the quest to save dollars in the nation’s $2.1 trillion annual health care bill is becoming a lucrative market of its own. Thousands of companies, large and small, are pitching cost-saving ideas that range from electronic patient records to new medical devices.

 

Pinning Down the Money Value of a Person’s Life

HOW much is your life worth? How about a year of life? How much is your vision worth? What about being pain-free? Able to walk unassisted? Have sex?  Unanswerable questions all. Or maybe not.

 

Health Costs Push Companies to Set Targets for Workers

WATCH your cholesterol and triglycerides. Your boss and fellow workers are counting on it. As the nation’s employers aim to get their money’s worth from ever more expensive medical insurance, many are playing a bigger role in managing and monitoring their workers’ health.

 

Privacy Groups Caution as Insurers Move Health Records to Web

Privacy groups are sounding alarms as the nation’s largest insurance companies finalize plans to allow millions more customers to post their health records on the Internet.

 

The trials of managing condos in a glutted housing market

Gene Gomberg of The Continental Group discusses unions, sky-high maintenance fees and the challenges of a glutted housing market.