Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) bill (HB 351) will be voted on by the full House on March 1, 2018. We expect the bill will pass. On February 28, 2018, the bill was heard on the House floor on special order and rolled to third reading. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 33 changes the current enforcement of the ban on texting while driving from secondary to primary offense which allows a law enforcement officer to stop a vehicle solely for texting while driving. On February 28, 2018, the bill was heard on the House floor on special order and…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The first responder workers’ compensation PTSD bill moved closer to passage this week after committees in each chamber approved the bills. The bill loosens the requirements for first responders to collect workers’ compensation benefits for PTSD when there is no physical injury. On February 26, 2018, the House Governmental…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 80 defines and establishes parameters on direct primary care. The bill had been sitting in its last committee, Appropriations, since October 2017, but was finally heard and passed by that committee on February 27, 2018 without amendment. The bill will now be heard on the Senate floor. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 21, 2018, when the Senate was set to vote on SB 162, the bill sponsor asked to postpone the bill. No explanation for the postponement was given. The Senate put the bill on the calendar again for a vote on February 27, 2018, but the bill…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel With two weeks of Session left, the House finally released a committee bill reenacting and saving from repeal the public records exemption in current law for proprietary business information provided by insurers in the private market to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation for use in the Citizens Clearinghouse. The information…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate telehealth bill, SB 280, unanimously passed its last committee on February 21, 2018 without amendment. The bill will now be heard on the Senate floor when set by the Special Order Calendar Group. The House telehealth bill, HB 793, has not been heard in its first committee…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1282 provides more disclosure to homeowners about the lack of flood coverage in their property insurance policy. The bill passed its last Senate committee on February 22, 2018 with no amendments. Starting July 1, 2019, for new and renewal policies, the bill requires insurers to include a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate mental health parity bill passed its second committee on February 21, 2018 with one amendment giving funding to the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) for implementation of the bill. The bill has one committee left. The House companion bill, HB 955, has not been heard in its…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House 2018 trade secret legislative package, HB 459 and HB 461, passed the House on February 21, 2018. HB 459 repeals the current public records laws relating to trade secrets and HB 461 creates a new uniform law for trade secrets to be followed by all state agencies. …