Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel One provision in the original version of HB 1373 required Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to study and report on specified issues relating to Medicaid eligibility criteria for nursing facilities, specifically the feasibility of requiring Medicaid eligible persons with a whole or universal life policy…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate moved their life insurance genetic testing prohibition bill to the ACLI compromise during its first committee hearing on January 28, 2020 when the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee adopted a strike all amendment (208866). The Committee voted the bill out with a vote of 5-1. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On January 28, 2020, a vote on Sen. Brandes’ (R) bad faith reform bill was postponed to next week’s committee meeting when the committee ran out of allocated meeting time. The Committee took limited public testimony from two trial lawyers before postponing the bill. The House does not…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate moved their PBM regulation bill out of its first (of three) committee on January 28, 2020 when the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee approved SB 1338 with a technical amendment, but also with a commitment from the bill sponsor to look at adding other, more controversial, amendments…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 1409 creates a public records exemption for certain sensitive business information held by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) which is protected from public records disclosure requirements if held by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). Disclosure of the exempted information, which includes Own-Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA)…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate Health Policy Committee approved the Agency for Health Care Administration’s agency bill, SB 1726, when it met on January 28, 2020. The Committee adopted three amendments, two of which were technical. The other did not pertain to the insurance part of the bill. The bill covers a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The goal of SB 1516 is to increase the number of organs available for transplant in Florida and to ensure more organ transplants are successful. To help increase the number of organs available for transplant, the Senate Health Policy Committee adopted a strike all amendment (705054) to add language…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1186 makes changes to the drug-free workplace programs in Chapters 112 and 440, F.S. Sen. Baxley (R), the bill sponsor, said the bill aligns Florida’s drug free workplace law with the federal drug free workplace law. The bill was approved by its first Senate committee of reference on…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House transportation omnibus bill, HB 395, picked up some insurance related provisions in committee on January 28, 2020 via a strike all amendment (263101). The additions change the financial responsibility and self-insurance requirements in current law for taxis and make several TNC changes, including the creation of disability…