Senate Passes Atwater Omnibus Insurance Bill–SB 2860

The Florida Senate passed its omnibus property insurance bill package, Senate Bill 2860 by Senator Jeff Atwater (R- North Palm Beach) 32-7.

Known as the “cherry picking” provision, an amendment offered by Senator Mike Fasano (R- New Port Richey) that would prohibit an insurer that writes property insurance in another state from writing auto insurance in Florida without also writing property insurance in Florida if that insurer has shed more than five percent of its policies since 2003.

Stating that “”What the insurance industry is doing to this state is disgusting,” Senator Fasano withdrew his amendment.

Senator Steve Geller (D- Hallandale Beach) offered a late-filed amendment that was adopted without debate. The amendment clarifies the right of governmental agencies to discover underwriting and claims file records of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”) and authorizing Citizens to release such records as it deems necessary, which is currently the equivalent circumstance for private insurers.

A copy of Senator Geller’s amendment for your review.

Senator Geller explained the provisions of SB 2860 that were discussed and debated on second reading in the Senate on April 11, 2008. He argued that the bill would help consumers through provisions such as the repeal of use-and-file and arbitration, prohibition of unapproved models, repeal of the “reasonable rate of return” provision, increase of the nonrenewal notice period to 180 days, expansion of unfair trade practices to include various prohibited factors in claims adjusting, and dramatic increases in fines.

Senators Al Lawson (D- Tallahassee) and Steve Oelrich (R- Gainesville) spoke against the bill as a subsidy to coastal million-dollar homeowners. Senator Fasano debated in favor of the bill and argued that insurers were neglecting the citizens of Florida even though they recorded record profits last year.

The “no” votes on SB 2860 were Senators J.D. Alexander, Paula Dockery, Tony Hill, Al Lawson, Steve Oelrich, Jeremy Ring and Gary Siplin.

The bill will now be submitted to the Florida House for its consideration.

 

Should you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact this office.

 

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