Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The full Senate heard SB 162 when the bill was on Special Order on February 8, 2018. It was not amended on the floor. The Senate will vote on the bill the next time they are in Session which is Wednesday, February 14th. Starting January 1, 2019, the bill…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1412 makes the salary of a Judge of Compensation Claim (JCC) equal to the salary of a county court judge with the Deputy Chief JCC making $1,000 more than a county court judge. The bill unanimously passed its second Senate committee on February 8, 2018 and has…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Speaker Corcoran’s priority legislation creating a uniform law to protect the confidentiality of trade secret information provided to state agencies and to set a uniform process for all agencies to use when a public records request is received for that information passed its last House committee on February 8,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate mental health parity bill passed its first committee on February 6, 2018. The House companion bill, HB 955, has not been heard in its first committee and that committee is not scheduled to meet again this Session. Thus, the House bill is likely dead for this…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The construction defect statute of repose bill, HB 875/SB 536, is getting closer to the floor. The House bill made it through its last committee on February 7, 2018; the Senate bill has one committee left. The House bill was amended in committee on February 7, 2018 to match…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The health insurance industry, the pharmacy industry and pharmacy benefit managers finally agreed to language for the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) bill after weeks of negotiating. The agreed upon language was added to the Senate bill, SB 1494 via a strike all amendment (#167480) adopted by the Senate…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1106 prohibits life insurers, long-term care insurers, and disability insurers from cancelling, limiting, or denying coverage or establishing different premiums based on the genetic information. The bill also prohibits these insurers from using genetic information or requiring genetic testing for any insurance purpose. The bill, which is…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate construction defect statute of repose bill, SB 536, made it through another committee on February 6, 2018. The bill has one committee left. The applicability provision in the bill was changed in committee. The amended bill applies to any action commenced on or after July 1, 2018…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel An unfriendly AOB bill (SB 1168) passed its second committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 6, 2018 by a vote of 7-3. The vote was also 7-3 in the first committee. The bill has one committee left. The AOB bill was supported in committee by water remediators…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel This year’s Senate insurance omnibus bill, SB 784, passed its first (of three) committee in the Senate on February 6, 2018. A strike all amendment was adopted to essentially match the Senate bill with the House bill. The amended bill covers a myriad of insurance topics: Surplus Lines…