Senate Banking & Insurance Committee To Consider Insurance Bills, Amendments Today
Apr 6, 2009
An amendment to Senate Bill 2036 relating to Property Insurance by Senator Mike Bennett is expected to be considered today, April 6, 2009, by the Florida Senate Committee (“Committee”) on Banking and Insurance as part of its regular agenda.
The amendment to SB 2036, as well as a secondary related amendment are attached for your review.
The amendment would remove the assessment features of SB 2036, which, as filed, excludes non-assessable residential property insurance from Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (“FHCF”) emergency assessments. The bill also provides that such insurance is not subject to determinations as excessive or unfairly discriminatory, excludes such insurance policies from aggregate statewide direct written premium for subject lines of business for purposes of calculating certain emergency assessments.
Essentially, the amendment to SB 2036 would allow open rating for insurers meeting certain criteria, which would be that:
- An insurer has $500 million in surplus; or
- A 2:1 net premium-to-surplus ratio
The amendment would stipulate that once an insurer has satisfied one of these conditions, then participation in the FHCF Temporary Increase in Coverage Limit layer is prohibited, and the insurer must provide certain notices and disclosures.
The attached amendment to the amendment provides for non-applicability of policies that exclude wind coverage.
Also scheduled to be considered during today’s Committee meeting are:
- SB 1950 relating to Insurance by Senator Garrett Richter (a proposed Committee Substitute to SB 1950 is expected to considered as well)
- SB 1122 by Senator Don Gaetz relating to Health Insurance/Payment of Benefits/Claims Forms
- SB 2078 by Senator Charlie Justice relating to the My Safe Florida Home Program
- SB 444 by Senator Bennett relating to Title Insurance
To view the Committee packet, click here.
For additional information on Florida’s legislative process and terminology, click here.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Colodny Fass.
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