Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Wright, the sponsor of this year’s construction defects bill, asked that the bill be temporarily postponed by the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second week in a row. He wants to work on finding a compromise with the stakeholders over the interim. Thus, the bill is not…
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 through committee. Both HB 983, the House PTSD rule ratification bill, and…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 673 equalizes the payment for long term care insolvencies between the life and health insurance industries. It does not contain an assessment exemption for nonprofit HMOs. HB 673 passed its second House committee on March 25, 2019 with a vote of 13-0. The bill is now in…
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 second committee on March 25, 2019 by a vote of 4-1. It was not amended and has one committee left. Sen. Torres (D) cast the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1526 passed its first committee on March 25, 2019 without being amended. It has two committees left. The Senate bill is very different from the House telehealth bill that is currently moving through committee. The Senate bill essentially is the Florida Medical Association’s wish list for telehealth. …
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House dangerous instrumentality bill which the bill sponsor describes as a “balanced bill” for all sides is teed up for the House floor. It passed its last committee on March 21, 2019 with a 12-4 vote. It was amended to more closely match the Senate companion, SB…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 890 changes the drug-free workplace program. It passed its first Senate committee this week, but has not yet been heard in the House. A strike all was adopted by the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee to require prescreening validity tests that can detect drug testing subversion technologies, such…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill to clean up the Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurance Guaranty Association (FWCIGA) assessment scheme and make a minor change to Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) cleared its last House committee on March 21, 2019 with one amendment to match the FIGA provision to that in the Senate companion…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 935 dealing with price transparency in health care contracts with providers is a priority of the House for the 2019 Session and is ready for a floor vote. It passed its last committee, House Health & Human Services, on March 21, 2019 with a strike all amendment that…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate started moving their autonomous vehicle (AV) bill on March 20, 2019 when it unanimously passed its first committee, Senate Infrastructure and Security. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Brandes (R) who has sponsored AV legislation in past Sessions and is super knowledgeable and a champion for AV…