Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 559, the House step therapy bill, was rewritten by the Health Market Reform Subcommittee on March 19, 2019 when the subcommittee adopted a strike all amendment to replace the bill with new language. The subcommittee passed the rewritten bill. As rewritten, the bill has two parts: step…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill making a technical change to last year’s bill requiring a flood disclosure on homeowner’s policies cleared its second Senate committee on March 20, 2019. It was not amended. SB 380 is not controversial and tweaks language passed last year requiring flood disclosure on homeowner’s policies to clarify…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 337 by Rep. Leek (R) increases the jurisdictional threshold for county court, along with other changes to the court system. It passed its first House committee on March 20, 2019 with a strike all amendment that rewrote the bill. The bill has two committees left. The bill increasing…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Business & Professions Subcommittee approved a large profession deregulation package (HB 27) during its meeting on March 19, 2019 by a vote of 11-4. The package includes changes to the membership of the Florida Building Commission which may be important to the property insurance industry. Under the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Department of Financial Services (DFS) agency package passed its first House committee on March 19, 2019 as a committee substitute that replaced the originally filed version of the bill. HB 1393 makes changes in several areas administered or regulated by DFS, including unclaimed property. Most of the changes…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Providing more options for health insurance is a goal of the Florida House of Representatives this Session because the Speaker has set health care reform as his top priority. HB 997 is designed to accomplish that goal. To that end, the bill loosens the requirements for disparate groups to…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its March 19, 2019 meeting, the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee approved the House AOB bill, HB 7065, by a vote of 14-1. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Rommel (R), the chair of the Civil Justice Subcommittee. Two clarifying amendments were adopted and one amendment was…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its meeting on March 19, 2019, the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee approved bills to expand the scope of practice for psychologists and pharmacists. Neither bill was amended by the subcommittee. PsychologistsHB 373 expands the scope of practice for psychologists by allowing psychologists to prescribe drugs, including controlled…