Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 76 makes distracted driving as a primary traffic offense, meaning law enforcement can pull a vehicle over if the driver is seen committing the offense. Driving while distracted is defined to include a number of physical activities which cause driver distractions in addition to the handheld use of…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 20, 2019, the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee passed a committee substitute for HB 537, a bill dealing with how the Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association (FWCJUA) handles unclaimed dividends and premium refunds. Under the bill, the FWCJUA can retain unclaimed dividends or premium refunds…
By: Greenberg Traurig The House Civil Justice Subcommittee met on February 20, 2019 to hear the presentations and discussion on tort reform, medical malpractice reform, and insurer bad faith reform by: Cary Silverman, American Tort Reform Association, Shook, Hardy, & Bacon, Washington, D.C. Bob White, The Doctors Company, Jacksonville, FL David Corum, Insurance Research Council,…
By: Greenberg Traurig The Senate Committee on Health Policy met on February 19, 2019 to hear the presentation on Certificate of Need by Molly McKinstry, Deputy Secretary of AHCA and to hear two bills. The following bills were considered: SB 302, Nonemergency Medical Transportation Services, by Sen. Brandes SB 434, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, by Sen.…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill that primarily cleans up FWCIGA assessment provisions and makes a minor change to FIGA cleared its first committee on February 20, 2019 with three amendments. HB 429 has two committees left. The Senate bill, SB 496, has not yet been heard in committee. Regarding FWCIGA, the amended…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its meeting on February 20, 2019, the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee passed HB 387, a bill dealing with surplus lines. One amendment (PDF) was adopted to the bill. As amended, the bill: Continues to allow a per-policy fee charged by a surplus lines agent, but removes the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 426 by Sen. Flores (R) makes firefighters who are diagnosed with certain cancers eligible to receive specified cancer related benefits in lieu of workers’ compensation. The bill cleared its first Senate committee on February 19, 2019 and has two more committee stops. The bill was not amended in…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 322 by Sen. Simpson (R) related to health insurance preexisting conditions passed the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on February 19, 2019 with a strike all amendment that kept the substance of the bill intact, but made some technical changes to it. The amended bill generally requires health…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill making a technical change to last year’s bill requiring flood disclosure on homeowner’s policies cleared its first Senate committee unanimously on February 19, 2019. The only amendment adopted to the bill narrowed the title of the bill. SB 380 clarifies that the flood disclosure currently required by…