Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1476, the 10% per year rate increase limit that applies to all policyholders of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) will be reduced to 5% for the next two years for policyholders in Monroe County which includes the Florida Keys. The bill was approved on April 23, 2019 by…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1422 revises provisions relating to short-term limited duration insurance policies and the regulation of association health plans (AHPs). The bill passed its last committee on April 23, 2019 and will next be heard on the Senate floor. Senate Democrats questioned the bill sponsor, Sen. Gruters (R), about the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel After eight years of trying, property insurance AOB reform is one vote away from passing and going to the Governor. The vote should take place tomorrow when the Senate will vote on the AOB bill sent to them by the House. Because the bill was not amended on the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Both the House and Senate autonomous vehicle (AV) bills are ready for the floor. HB 311, the House bill, is set for its first floor hearing on April 23, 2019. A strike all floor amendment (483839) has been filed to the House bill to bring it closer to the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 328 by Sen. Brandes (R) increases the jurisdictional threshold for county court, along with other changes to the court system. It passed its last Senate committee on April 18, 2019 with two amendments. Only one of the amendments related to the county court jurisdiction threshold. That amendment removed…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 7078 is a health care omnibus bill. It is a compilation of many healthcare issues, including a few health insurance related issues, and began as a committee bill by the Senate Health Policy Committee. It was approved by its last committee on April 18, 2019 with a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate passed its electric scooter bills out of its last committee on April 18, 2019 without amending it. The House bill has also cleared all of its committees. Both bills will be heard on the floor when set by the Rules Committee. One big difference in the bills…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate omnibus insurance bill (SB 714) cleared its last committee on April 18, 2019 when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved it. Two amendments were adopted to the bill. One removed the bill’s provision that deregulated forms and rates for high value homes. The other amendment added a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1640, the Senate professional license deregulation package, cleared its last committee of reference on April 18, 2019 with one amendment to add back a member to the Florida Building Commission (Commission). The House bill has cleared all its committee and is waiting for a floor vote. The bills…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate shared savings program bill, SB 524, was amended in its last committee on April 18, 2019 to add formulary management for the state group health insurance program. Some health insurers and HMOs may find the provision requiring formulary management concerning as it could set a precedent for…