Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 540, dealing with FIGA and FWCIGA, unanimously passed its last Senate committee on February 5, 2020 and will be next heard on the Senate floor. The bill was not amended. It is supported by FIGA and FWCIGA and is substantially similar to a bill that passed the House…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill designed to put requirements on litigation financing to protect consumers, but not to outright ban litigation financing, passed the House Appropriations Committee on February 5, 2020. The bill was not amended. Specifically, HB 7041: Requires a litigation financier to register with the Department of State and file…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1279 tweaks the health insurance shared savings program. It passed its second committee on February 4, 2020 and is now in its last committee. The bill was not amended. The shared savings program was created in 2019 as a voluntary program for health insurers and HMOs to provide…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Health Market Reform Subcommittee approved the Agency for Health Care Administration’s agency bill, HB 731, when it met on February 4, 2020. The Committee adopted a strike all amendment to the bill. The bill has two committees left. The bill covers a variety of topics, but only…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1089 provides more flexibility on who pays taxes on trust investments. Specifically, the bill allows an independent trustee of any grantor trust to reimburse the grantor for all or part of the income taxes paid by the grantor as a result of the trust’s income. The life…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A tort reform bill exempting motor vehicle dealers from vicarious liability when they supply a temporary replacement vehicle cleared its first House committee on February 4, 2020. HB 977 essentially provides immunity from liability in a civil or criminal proceeding for motor vehicle dealers or their leasing or…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate loss run statement bill, SB 292, cleared its last committee on February 5, 2020. The House bill (HB 269) cleared its committees a couple of weeks ago. The bill requires virtually all insurers, including surplus lines, to provide a free annual loss run statement covering five years…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel As originally filed, SB 1544 allowed an applicant for Medicaid services to exempt the value of his or her life insurance policies if the applicant collaterally assigned the face value of the policy to the State for an amount that is not greater than the amount of Medicaid benefits…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During committee on February 4, 2020, the House removed a health insurance provision from HB 1187 relating to discrimination by health insurers against organ donors. The provision removed via a strike all amendment specified that no insurer offering individual coverage can employ a preexisting condition exclusion with the effect…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A priority issue for the FIC Property Insurance Committee moved in the Senate again on February 4, 2020 when the Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB 914 with a vote of 4-2. Under the bill, a lodestar fee is presumed to be sufficient and reasonable in property insurance claims…