Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel After postponing the vote on the Senate genetic testing bill (SB 258) last week in order to negotiate a compromise with the life industry, Sen. Bean (R), proposed a strike all amendment (#693742) to the bill during the Senate Health Policy Committee hearing on April 8, 2019. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1640, the Senate professional license deregulation package, cleared its second committee of reference on April 8, 2019 with a strike all amendment and an amendment to the strike all. The Senate bill has one committee left. The House bill has cleared all its committee. The professional license…
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 second committee on April 4, 2019 with four…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House and Senate both moved their autonomous vehicle (AV) bills in committee last week. Language setting insurance requirements for on-demand autonomous vehicle networks, which are similar to TNCs, was added to both the House and Senate bills. Up to this point, the bills did not have any insurance…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 673 equalizes the payment for long term care insolvencies between the life and health insurance industries. It was amended in its last committee on April 4, 2019 to add an assessment exemption for certain nonprofit HMOs. Rep. Fischer (R), the bill sponsor, stated though he initially opposed a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 759 and HB 761 revamp Florida’s trade secret protection laws. They passed their last committee on April 4, 2019. One amendment was adopted to HB 759. The bills will now be heard on the House floor when set by the Rules Committee. The Senate companion bills (SB 1414…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A rule proposed by the Division of Workers’ Compensation (Division) to implement last year’s legislation authorizing first responders to receive workers’ compensation benefits for PTSD without a physical injury will be ratified under bills moving toward passage this Session. HB 983, the House PTSD rule ratification bill, passed its…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 617, a glitch bill making a clarifying change to last year’s bill requiring flood disclosure on homeowner’s policies, cleared its last House committee on April 4, 2019. It was not amended. It will next be heard on the House floor when scheduled by the Rules Committee. The Senate…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1247 expands the application of Florida’s one way attorney fee statute to suits brought by “contractors” against surety insurers under payment or performance bonds for losses due to breach of a building or construction contract. It passed its last House committee on April 4, 2019. The bill will…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House moved their vulnerable investor protection bill (HB 143) out of its last committee on April 4, 2019. It will next be heard on the House floor when set by the Rules Committee. SB 1466, the Senate companion, is in its last committee. Thus, the bills are in…