2019 Presession Summaries Life
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FIC: Health Plan & Essential Benefits Bill Approved
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel According to the bill sponsor, HB 997 is designed to give more options for health insurance to Floridians. To accomplish this goal, the bill loosens the requirements for groups to band together for health insurance purposes under the Florida Nonprofit Multiple-Employer Welfare Act and association health group law. This…
FIC: Health Price Transparency Bill Out Of First Committee
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. A recent trend in the Florida Legislature is to enact legislation for more price transparency in health care. Last Session, the Legislature enacted legislation about price…
FIC: Flood Disclosure Bill Passes House Committee
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A glitch bill making a technical change to last year’s bill requiring flood disclosure on homeowner’s policies cleared its first House committee unanimously on March 7, 2019. The only amendment adopted to the bill narrowed the title of the bill. HB 617 clarifies that the flood disclosure currently required…
FIC: Direct Primary Care Expansion Passes Committee
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 7 is a priority bill of the House. By expanding direct primary care to more specialized medical services, it meets Speaker Oliva’s goal of increasing health care options to Floridians in order to reduce health care costs. The House Health Market Reform Subcommittee approved the bill during its…
FIC: Tort Reform Bill Passes First House Committee
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House tort reform bill was significantly amended during its first committee hearing on March 6, 2019. The amended bill passed the bill by a vote of 10-5 along party lines. However, even some of the Republican committee members who voted for the bill expressed concerns about it, especially…
FIC: AOB Bill Out Of House Committee
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House moved their committee bill (PCB CJS 19-01) dealing with assignment of benefits out of the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on March 6, 2019 with a vote of 13-2. The bill was presented by Rep. Rommel (R), the subcommittee chair, and was not amended. The bill applies…
FIC: Scooter and Autonomous Vehicles Bills On The Move
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counse The House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee unanimously passed bills dealing with motorized scooters and autonomous vehicles during its meeting on March 6, 2019. Neither bill was amended in committee. HB 453 is the scooter bill and deals with local government regulation of them. The bill authorizes a county or…
FIC: Dangerous Instrumentality Bill Moves in House
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Business groups are pitted against the trial bar on a bill about Florida’s dangerous instrumentality law. Part of the bill will shield companies that lease certain mobile equipment from liability for damages caused by the equipment if the lessee has insurance in the required amounts. The impetus for HB…
FIC: Trade Secret Changes Passes Committee
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 759 and HB 761 revamping Florida’s trade secret protection laws passed its first committee on March 6, 2019 without amendment. The Senate companion bills (SB 1414 and SB 1416) are similar and have not yet been heard in committee. HB 759 repeals most of the public records exemptions…