Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Wednesday, June 20

Click on a headline to read the complete story:

 

Insurer takes heat at hearing

DAVIE — About 100 people attended a hearing Tuesday held by the task force reviewing Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s remaining claims from the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, many of them angrily pleading for help.

 

Citizens Insurance task force gets an earful about claims

Frustrated homeowners complained of poorly trained adjusters and drawn-out negotiations as they’ve worked to settle still-unresolved storm claims from 2004 and 2005.

 

Citizen tax plan gains momentum

Broker rallies diverse groups around measure expanding scope of “Save Our Homes”

There is a feverish race going on to offer alternatives to the Florida Legislature’s “Super Exemption” constitutional amendment, which is already plugged into the Jan. 29 ballot.

 

PSC to hold hearings on utilities’ progress in storm hardening

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — State utility regulators voted Tuesday to hold hearings on whether electric utilities are sufficiently strengthening their infrastructure to make it more storm resistant.

 

No Fault What Happens After Expires?

It’s been the law in Florida for 36 years.

But come October, the state’s no-fault auto insurance law, which requires drivers to have at least $10,000 of personal injury protection, will expire.

 

Homeowners in coastal states feel bite from higher premiums
 
It’s old hat in Florida, but homeowners in other coastal states are now finding out what it’s like to have a significant number of property-insurance policies issued by a state-run agency.

 

U.K. weighs in on U.S. hurricane season

British weather forecasters, making their first public attempt to predict the Atlantic hurricane season, say it may be a little quieter than their American counterparts expect.

 

Hurricane chief’s remarks stir up tempest at NOAA

The new national hurricane center director wants his bosses to spend less money on birthday parties and more on satellites that could help emergency managers decide when to tell people to flee approaching storms.

 

Citizens Sets Pasco Forum

State-run Citizens Property Insurance will hold an educational forum from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday in New Port Richey to discuss, among other things, legislative changes to sinkhole coverage. The change in sinkhole coverage will affect homeowners in Pasco and Hernando counties. Policyholders in those counties will be automatically enrolled in catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage but will have to select optional sinkhole coverage. The forum will be at Spartan Manor, 6121 Massachusetts Ave.

 

Xcel Settles Tax Dispute Over Insurance Policies

NEW YORK – Xcel Energy said on Wednesday it reached a tentative settlement with the U.S. government related to a tax dispute over its life insurance policies.

 

Scruggs Files Rackets Suit Against State Farm

The Scruggs Katrina Group filed a federal lawsuit in Mississippi today accusing State Farm, an engineering firm and an adjusting concern of a racketeering conspiracy it alleges had defrauded a group of coastal homeowners out of $3.97 million.

 

Corps: New Orleans Still a Flood Risk

NEW ORLEANS — Large areas of this city, including sections that are being rebuilt, remain at risk from flooding despite more than $1 billion in work to fix and upgrade the hurricane protection system, according to a new Army Corps of Engineers report released Wednesday.

 

Crist vetoes energy bill

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a sweeping energy bill tonight, saying it did not go far enough to wean the state off of petroleum fuel and could stymie his efforts to do so.

 

Quick Move On TRIA Bill Urged

WASHINGTON—The president of the American Insurance Association plans to urge Congress Thursday “to act as quickly as possible” on legislation extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act so the new program is in place as insurers and their policyholders go through the upcoming renewal season.

 

House Bill Renews Federal Terrorism Reinsurance for 10 Years, Expands Definition

Congress officially has a new bill to reauthorize the federal terrorism reinsurance program.

Two Democrats from Massachusetts ? U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano and the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank ? have introduced H.R. 2761, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act of 2007 (TRIREA).

 

Survey: Inlanders Oppose Subsidies for Risky Drivers, Coastal Homes

A new survey is reporting that 80 percent of drivers and 64 percent of homeowners in non-coastal areas in two states disagree with state insurance pricing regulations that benefit risky drivers and homeowners in high-risk coastal areas.

 

Supreme Court Ruling Limits Investors’ Antitrust Claim Recoveries

This week’s U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that blocks investors from suing Wall Street investment banks under antitrust laws could save Wall Street firms a bundle by limiting investors to smaller recoveries.

 

Study Finds 1.8 Million Veterans Are Uninsured

Figure Has Grown by 290,000 Since 2000, Professor Tells House Veterans Panel

As the nation struggles to improve medical and mental health care for military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, about 1.8 million U.S. veterans under age 65 lack even basic health insurance or access to care at Veterans Affairs hospitals, a new study has found.

 

Broward School Board to explain what cuts will do

Broward School Board members plan to inform the public about the effects on schools if a tax-cut referendum passes in January. But the board won’t explicitly urge voters to reject it.

 

Health Care Consumers Crowded Out Of Medical Information Board

CLEARWATER – A state council meeting here to discuss how to make medical information accessible and useful to the public is dominated by the same industries that have kept the data secret for so long.

 

State drops Kaye from probe of life insurance firm’s practices

The state Department of Financial Services is dropping an investigation into business dealings between Boca Raton life insurance mogul Barry Kaye and a Philadelphia-based company facing allegations that it engaged in dishonest practices.

 

White House delays border passport rules

People wait in line outside the U.S. Passport Office in downtown Washington, Wednesday, June 20, 2007, for processing. Under fire from stressed travelers and steamed lawmakers, the Bush administration pledged on Tuesday to be “very flexible” in eliminating the current passport backlog and enforcing new passport rules next January.

 

P/C Insurers Invest $320 Billion in Public Projects Including Schools

The insurance industry holds investments in municipal bonds worth more than $320 billion, investments that help fund construction of schools, roads, and hospitals, and support a variety of other public sector activities, according to a new industry study.

 

Wal-Mart to offer prepaid cards

Wal-Mart, furthering a lucrative push to offer financial services to its customers, will sell prepaid Visa debit cards that would allow millions of low-income shoppers who don’t have bank accounts to keep up with an increasingly cashless society.

 

Road Sins: Vatican Publishes 10 Commandments for Drivers

The Vatican on Tuesday issued a set of “Ten Commandments” for drivers, telling motorists not to kill, not to drink and drive, and to help fellow motorists in the case of accidents.