Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, November 16
Nov 16, 2009
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State Farm may stay for Florida homeowners
Ten months ago, State Farm was the scourge of Tallahassee when it announced plans to pull out of Florida’s property insurance market.
Citizens’ $60 Million No-Bid Contract Raises Questions
The contract gives Inspection Depot Inc. responsibility for coordinating reinspections of as many as 400,000 of the 1 million homes insured by Citizens, the state’s largest property insurer.
Homeowners with Chinese drywall feel ‘abandoned’
About 10 families in The Oaks development west of Boca Raton gathered at a neighbor’s house last week to commiserate about the tainted Chinese drywall contained in most of their homes.
Some Pinellas fire departments are slow to share building information
Pinellas fire chiefs and county officials created a cutting-edge computer system to deliver crucial information to firefighters on their way to battle blazes.
Florida Appeals Court Rules On PIP Benefit Suits
A plaintiff who is not entitled to medical payments after an auto accident cannot recover from an insurer because the reasons the claim was denied were not properly spelled out, a Florida appeals court ruled.
Brown & Brown subsidiary buys Wash. firm
Brown & Brown Inc.s Hull & Co. subsidiary has acquired certain wholesale insurance accounts from Anchor Bay Insurance Managers.
The Florida Department of Transportation will hold an online seminar Tuesday to discuss proposed changes to statewide toll rates and the rules for establishing a Toll-by-Plate electronic toll collection system.
State of Florida facing shortage of medical residency programs
Courtney Whittington was raised in Tallahassee, and she hopes her 2-month-old daughter, Linnea, also will grow up in Florida.
Regulators shut 2 Florida banks; 122 failures in ’09
Regulators on Friday shut down two Florida banks, boosting to 122 the number of U.S. bank failures this year as loan defaults rise in the worst financial climate in decades.
BLOG: Obama Names Florida Farm Director
The White House Tim Manning as Florida state executive director for the Farm Service Agency at the USDA.
Florida lawmakers want action taken on port security
An attempted compromise on a long-running port security battle, passed during the spring legislative session, is drawing fire from lawmakers who say the state is moving too slowly to implement the changes and that the bill was inadequate.
Collier, Lee sheriffs join new 10-county intelligence, public safety agency
Imagine trying to assemble a puzzle without all the pieces.
USA Today: Trend of ‘Political Downsizing’ Hasn’t Hit Florida
A move to “downsize” local-government boards and councils – something that’s happening right now mostly in the state of New York – hasn’t taken hold in Florida.
Closing Corporate Loophole May Bolster Florida Budget
Florida’s constant search for more money could mean a tougher approach to businesses that fail to file annual reports on time. By law, the 1.2 million corporations in Florida must file an annual report with the state, which can charge a $400 fine on every company that skips the May 1 filing deadline.
Fasano says goodbye Florida pensions, hello savings
Mike Fasano wants to get state government out of the pension business.
Shrinking Florida faces tough choices as residents flee, jobs vanish
Rick Desrochers is leaving. And he’s not coming back.
Florida Space Coast Officials Have Eye on Photonics Industry
A burgeoning high-tech industry sits at the doorstep, and officials are considering ways Volusia and Flagler counties can capitalize on the proximity. The industry is photonics, which includes a wide array of products, from fiber-optic cable to lasers to guidance systems used in everything from telecommunications to military weaponry and space ships.
Frank Brogan: Florida needs strategic coordination to produce educated work force
Florida’s future prosperity relies on the quality of its work force. To compete in the fast-changing knowledge economy, we need more well-educated citizens. We need more people with college degrees.
A new report suggests a connection between campaign contributions and votes on sanctions against Cuba.
Supporters of the U.S. embargo against Cuba have contributed almost $11 million to members of Congress since 2004 in a largely successful effort to block efforts to weaken sanctions against the island, a new report shows.
Louisiana Last Resort Insurer to Apply to Raise Commercial Rates 8.3%
The board of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. voted unanimously to send an application to the state insurance department asking for an average 8.3% rate increase statewide on commercial policies.
New Orleans plans bond talks with rating agencies
City officials plan to hold high-stakes talks with three rating agencies that could determine whether New Orleans can sell up to $40 million in bonds for street work.
Federal agency rejects new round of Texas hurricane funds
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has rejected Texas’ $1.7 billion plan for a second round of hurricane relief, drawing an angry rebuke from the governor.
Corruption Lands ex-Louisiana Congressman 13 Years
Prosecutors called a former Louisiana congressman’s corruption the most extensive in the history of Congress. His punishment delivered a similar message.
Marsh Announces Securities, Class Action Settlements
Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. on Friday announced it has reached a settlement in the securities class action lawsuit filed in 2004 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Illinois Insurance market faces power shift
As the state’s insurance director, Michael McRaith has a conflicting job: His office is charged with protecting Illinois consumers in their insurance transactions, while making sure their premiums are set high enough to keep the reserves of health plans well-funded.
Spain fines insurers, reinsurers over price fixing
Spain’s National Commission for Competition has charged six European insurers and reinsurers with fixing prices on construction defect coverage and fined them a total of €120.7 million ($179.2 million).
DIXON HUGHES: Proposed Changes to Statutory Statement of Accounting Principles No. 10R
At the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Spring National Meeting, a revised SSAP 10 was presented for public review and comment. The new SSAP would increase the admitted deferred tax asset limitation.
Over the counter, out of sight
Derivatives are extraordinarily useful-as well as complex, dangerous if misused and implicitly subsidised. No wonder regulators are taking a close look
In 1958 American onion farmers, blaming speculators for the volatility of their crops’ prices, lobbied a congressman from Michigan named Gerald Ford to ban trading in onion futures. Supported by the president-to-be, they got their way. Onion futures have been prohibited ever since.
Business Models Matter (for Accounting, That Is)
With the first in a trio of rules on financial instruments, the IASB requires companies to evaluate their business model before abandoning fair-value accounting.
Changes to the controversial rules surrounding the accounting treatment of financial instruments – rules that were skewered during several rancorous debates among politicians, bankers, and accounting experts during the past year – are one step closer to being finalized.
How strong a storm? It’s a good question
When thunderstorms started swirling in the Caribbean last week, few forecasters expected much more than a late-season tropical storm off Nicaragua.
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