Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Tuesday, July 3

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Citizens issues bonds, lines up credit

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Citizens Property Insurance said Tuesday it has lined up $1 billion in credit and closed a deal to issue bonds for nearly another billion to pay hurricane claims if needed.

 

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Closes $950 million Bond Deal

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Citizens Property Insurance Corporation closed two separate financial transactions Tuesday that provide $1.95 billion in additional claims-paying liquidity for its Personal Lines Account and Commercial Lines Account.

 

Crist says he’s disappointed with property insurance companies

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday blasted property insurance companies for seeking rate hikes despite the state’s push to lower premiums.

 

Florida Cuts Comp Insurance Rate

Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said today she has ordered a 50 percent cut for the 2008 Workers’ Compensation Administration Trust Fund assessment rate.

 

Insurers Winning Battles Over Use of Credit Scoring in Most States

As Ed Rathje sees it, his first foray into the Nevada Legislature as a citizen-activist ended in “total defeat” earlier this month when a bill he was pushing to limit the insurance industry’s use of credit histories to set rates was “incredibly watered-down.”

 

Key Flood Ruling Goes To U.S. 5th Circuit

A federal appeals court in New Orleans has set Aug. 6 as the date to hear oral arguments over the first post-Hurricane Katrina decision on an insurer’s policy language excluding flood coverage.

 

House Clears Surplus Lines, Reinsurance Oversight Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives last week unanimously passed legislation reforming regulation of the surplus lines and reinsurance markets. H.R. 1065—the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2007—gives the insurer’s home-state regulator primary oversight of multistate surplus lines risks.

 

Builders PAC ties contributions to fee cap

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Home Builders Association threatened on its Web site Monday to withhold contributions to incumbent legislative candidates who do not sponsor legislation it wants on impact fees.

 

Insurer: Covering only million-dollar houses cuts risk

Peter Wolf is tired of the soaring cost to insure his bayside Longboat Key home.

 

Temporary-tag law has car dealers riled
 
Car dealers are steamed and a vendor is suspicious of a new law pushed by a powerful lawmaker that helps a company vying to computerize the 2.4 million temporary license tags the state issues every year.

 

Head restraints founder in crash tests

Head restraints in dozens of sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans provided only poor or marginal protection from neck injuries in simulated crashes conducted by the insurance industry.

 

Legislators in tune with Florida Chamber of Commerce

Area legislators’ voting records are on par with those of the rest of the state regarding business in the 2007 legislative session.

 

Cellphone insurers vow better claim service

Cellphone equipment insurers agreed to provide better disclosure and improve how they handle customers’ claims under a nationwide class settlement approved by a federal judge in Miami last week.

 

Leaving health plan harder than joining

The health insurance salesman who came to Gloria Young’s house made a strong pitch. His company’s private Medicare plan could meet her needs just as well as her current insurer, and much more cheaply.

 

No case against nurses in Katrina deaths

The district attorney has dropped the case against two nurses in the deaths of four patients at a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina.

NOAA makes unscheduled inspection of National Hurricane Center

The Commerce Department sent an independent team to the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday to finish an unscheduled review to determine if forecasters can fulfill their mission under current management.

 

U.S. Insurers Hitting Speed Bumps Abroad

U.S. insurers, eager to expand globally and tap new markets, are finding their efforts tripped up in many regions by local speed bumps in the form of legal or even unofficial regulatory hurdles.

 

AP Interview: New Red Cross chief

Major challenges confront the new head of the American Red Cross, ranging from blood-safety violations and a budget deficit to disaster-response flaws exposed by Hurricane Katrina.

 

Outsourcing is creative but risky budget idea

In the search for ways to cut their budget to meet state-mandated levels, Clearwater officials are considering outsourcing the operation of city recreation centers to nonprofit organizations. It’s a creative idea, but one fraught with potential pitfalls. The city cannot afford to rush into this idea.