Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
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…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1039, a bill allowing advertising on the roofs of TNC vehicles and creating luxury ground transportation TNCs, was approved by its second committee in the House on February 4, 2020 when the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee approved it. It was not amended. The bill has one committee…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1188 and HB 1409 create a public records exemption for certain sensitive business information held by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) which current law already protects from public records disclosure requirements if held by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). Disclosure of the exempted information, which includes…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 4, 2020, a vote on Sen. Brandes’ (R) bad faith reform bill was postponed for the second time. The bill was first postponed last week when the committee ran out of time. This week, the bill was postponed at the start of the meeting, so it appears…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Without questions or debate, an insurance omnibus bill was significantly amended in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on February 4, 2020. The original version of SB 1606 contained provisions relating to: Creation of Auto Insurance Online Verification System and related Task Force Repeal of surplus lines agent affidavit…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB 1582 on February 4, 2020. The bill deals with asbestos trust claims. The Senate bill is different from the House bill on key aspects, as noted below. The House bill (HB 741) has already cleared all its committees and is waiting for…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The OIR backed credit for reinsurance bill that incorporates substantive provisions from the 2017 Covered Agreement between the U.S. and the European Union (EU) passed its second committee in the House on February 4, 2020. It was not amended and did not have opposition. The bills enact the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 4, 2020, the House Government Operations and Technology Appropriations Committee passed a bill to increase the salary of the Judges of Compensation Claims (JCCs) to that of county court judges. The bill was not amended and had no debate. It has two committees left. HB 1049…