House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee Report: March 23, 2011

The Florida House of Representatives Insurance & Banking Subcommittee passed several insurance-related bills during its meeting today, March 23, 2011:

PCS for HB 723 Relating to State Reciprocity in Workers’ Compensation Claims, PCS for HB 1007 Relating to Insurer Insolvency, and, PCB INBS 11-01 Repealing the Correlation of Mitigation Discounts, Credits, or Other Rate Differentials to the Uniform Home Grading Scale all passed favorably with no debate.

HB 1227 Relating to Surplus Lines passed favorably with the adoption of five (5) technical amendments.  Two of the amendments related to title changes; the third amendment changed the effective date to conform to the federal Nonadmitted Reinsurance Reform Act (“NRRA”); the fourth amendment corrected a drafting error in lines 153-154; and, the fifth amendment deleted lines 128-131 authorizing the Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) to adopt rules because the OIR does not have rulemaking authority under the provision given the scope of the NRRA.  HB 1227, with all five amendments adopted, passed unanimously.

HB 1411 Relating to Motor Vehicle Personal Injury Protection Insurance, passed as amended by a vote of 12 Yays following significant debate.  The adopted Amendment deletes lines 224-341, which would have created a direct-support organization to fight fraud.  Following the adoption of the amendment, debate ensued, including Kimberly Driggers advocating on behalf of the Florida Chiropractic Association, who spoke in support of HB 1411 with regard to the bill’s long-form provisions, fraud notice in clinical licensure, and the imposition of additional civil penalties.  However, Ms. Driggers also spoke against the bill regarding a provision permitting insurers to delay paying claims within thirty (30) days if fraud is suspected, the right for insurers to request examinations under oath (“EUOs”), and the “silent” PPO provision.  After additional debate, including that from Robert Heath on behalf of the Florida Justice Association, and William Stander on behalf of Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, the bill’s sponsor, Representative Bill Hager, closed and HB 1411 passed by a vote of 12 Yay votes.

Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Colodny Fass.

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