Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Tuesday, December 22
Dec 22, 2009
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Georgia software company sues Citizens Property Insurance over no-bid deal
A Georgia software company has sued Citizens Property Insurance Corp. saying it broke the law when it awarded a $60 million contract in late October without soliciting competitive bids.
Homeowners Choice ups Florida policy count with thousands from Citizens
Homeowners Choice Inc. increased its policy count by 44 percent after assuming 23,000 homeowners’ insurance policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
Marsh Acquires Insurance Broker With Florida, Northeastern Offices
NIA sells property and casualty insurance in Florida
Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, announced its second acquisition of this year saying it has acquired The NIA Group, LLC. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
Florida Judge Approves Liquidation of First Warranty
A Circuit Court judge in Florida’s Leon County has ordered the warranty company, Intercontinental Marine Service Corp., which does business as First Warranty Group of Florida, into liquidation.
Auto Warranty Firms Shut Down in Florida
Florida insurance officials have shut down four firms selling motor vehicle service warranties for being unlicensed.
Health Insurance Captive Ordered to Stop Selling in Florida
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has ordered captive insurer American Assurance Underwriters Group and its affiliates Worldwide Expatriate Administrators LLC and Worldwide Expatriate Advisors LLC to stop selling health insurance in Florida.
Florida’s WellCare names Alec Cunningham CEO
Nearly six months after its current chief executive announced he would step down, WellCare has found a new chief executive, promoting a member of its executive team to the post.
First case of highly drug-resistant TB found in Florida
It started with a cough, an autumn hack that refused to go away.
Florida mobile-home owners brace for tornado season
The year Mary Sopher’s mobile home was built, Woodstock rocked the world, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon and President Richard Nixon inherited the war in Vietnam.
Efforts Lag at Making Florida Highway Work Zones Safer
By the time Bryan Lee headed to work along Highway 51 in Texas on Sept. 15, 2005, the road-building industry and its government overseers were painfully aware of a deadly, though easily corrected, construction hazard: pavement-edge drop-offs.
Blog–Bombshell: Diaz-Balarts call it quits with Charlie Crist
U.S. Reps Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami have pulled their endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate.
Crist aide to leave for Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Dale Brill, director of transportation, tourism and economic development for Gov. Charlie Crist, is leaving to serve as president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Blog: Shake up at the governor’s energy office
The Florida Energy & Climate Commission appointed a new director and deputy director Monday, shaking up the management of an agency criticized this year for being too friendly to utilities.
Blog: Fla. GOP chair Greer accuses dissidents of treason, slander and libel
Republican Party of Florida Jim Greer, under fire from GOP discontents trying to oust him from his post, removed the party’s grievance chairman Tony DiMatteo from the committee set to deal with a complaint about the party infighting.
Hillsborough Democratic Party chief Pat Kemp, enters Florida House Dist. 58 race
Pat Kemp, chair of the Hillsborough County Democratic Party, has filed to run for the District 58 state House seat.
New information undercuts former Fla. House Speaker Sansom’s defense
As the Florida House prepares for an unrivaled investigative hearing into its former leader, new information undercuts key parts of Rep. Ray Sansom’s defense.
The former chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine and another Fort Lauderdale physician have agreed to pay substantial sums to settle federal civil charges of insider stock trading.
Editorial: Protect state funds
With more than $100 billion in investments, Florida has the nation’s fourth-largest pension fund.
Florida AG lawsuit alleges foreclosure rescue scam
Three Miami-Dade County businesses are the target of a lawsuit filed by Floridas attorney general, alleging they took part in a foreclosure rescue scam.
Florida sheriffs cry foul over proposed laws
New bills proposing the early release of criminals from Florida’s prisons to save money have high ranking law enforcement officials edgy.
Florida’s Water Woes: The People Speak (Again)
The Florida Senate’s Select Committee on Inland Waters launched a statewide series of public hearings in Ocala last week.
Florida teachers union trying to block $700M in federal education grants
When schools faced a budgetary evisceration this year, the Florida Education Association – the state teachers union – pressed for a penny increase in the sales tax.
Fla. jobs summit to focus on conservative remedies
A pair of future Republican legislative leaders announced plans Tuesday for a jobs summit next month that will focus on two conservative policy solutions – cutting government regulation and offering tax incentives to businesses.
Did we just wave goodbye to last new Florida coal plant?
It slipped by as a mere footnote last week. But the decision by Tampa’s Seminole Electric Cooperative to cancel plans to build a coal-fired power plant to generate electricity might represent the death knell of coal plants in Florida.
NFIP Extended; PCI Calls for Meaningful Reforms in 2010
This weekend, the Senate passed legislation that includes a short-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
Agencies Issue Final Rules on Risk-Based Pricing Notices
The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission today announced final rules that generally require a creditor to provide a consumer with a notice when, based on the consumer’s credit report, the creditor provides credit to the consumer on less favorable terms than it provides to other consumers.
Texas Lags on Stimulus Fund Spending for Home Weatherization
Texas has gotten millions of federal dollars from the economic-stimulus package to help poor residents cut their energy bills, but as of last month, only seven homes had been weather-treated, according to a newspaper report.
Coca-Cola gets OK for innovative captive benefits funding plan
The Coca-Cola Co. has received tentative authorization from the Labor Department for its groundbreaking approach to funding retiree health care benefits through a special trust and its captive insurance company.
AAMGA’s Bernie Heinze: The Importance of Representing
AAMGA’s Bernie Heinze joins national insurance executives in a comment forum on state legislative consideration of more than 40 bills that would ban or limit the use of credit-based insurance scoring.
RIMS names president, board officers
The Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. said Monday that Terry Fleming will serve as president of the society for the 2010 term, effective Jan. 1.
Satisfaction among homeowners insurance customers who file a property claim is significantly lower than that of auto claimants, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Home Claims Satisfaction Study released today.
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