The NRA sued over the age limits almost immediately after Gov. Rick Scott signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act into law March 9.  Marc Caputo reports for Politico Florida. https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/03/19/the-first-casualty-nra-broadsides-florida-house-speaker-for-gun-control-betrayal-319476

The move has been criticized by a number of environmental groups, who see it as removing one more layer of protection for the environmentally vital wetlands.  Tyler Treadway reports for TCPalm.com. https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/indian-river-lagoon/health/2018/03/19/wetland-protection-poised-shift-corps-engineers-florida-dep/417298002/

Proposal 97 raises the margin of passage for a constitutional amendment from the already-highest in America threshold of 60 percent — to the nearly impossible 60 percent of all those casting ballots in that election, FloridaPolitics.com Publisher Peter Schorsch explains. …

From 2011-2017, McRaith served in the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department as the director of the first federal office focused on national and global insurance matters, Insurance Journal reports. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2018/03/20/483872.htm

The recent revision to the Federal Tax Schedule for 2018 reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.  As a result some insurers, whose rates were based on the 35 percent corporate tax rate, may now be …

Access Insurance Co. is primarily a provider of non-standard auto insurance and is licensed in 22 states, including the four states in the South Central region — Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, Insurance Journal reports. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2018/03/19/483708.htm

Florida upped its score—achieving the top ranking in this year’s annual Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety “Rating the States” report, but with a strong codicil from the organization.

Florida Peninsula Insurance, one of the largest home insurance firms in Florida, has opened a new underwriting and operations center at 101 Paramount Drive, Suite 250, Sarasota, where it will consolidate a team of 16 underwriters and five customer services agents. …

What precisely caused the bridge to crumple remains very much an open question, independent experts say.  Mary Ellen Klas, Andres Viglucci and David Ovalle report for the Tampa Bay Times. http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/03/19/blame-game-escalates-in-pedestrian-bridge-collapse-that-killed-six/

The budget (HB 5001) is the largest in Florida history but it also contains one of the smallest packages of tax cuts in years (HB 7087), valued at about $171 million.  Mary Ellen Klas, Emily L. Mahoney and Elizabeth Koh report for the Tampa …