Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House retroactive denial of claims bill, HB 217, passed its second committee on February 14, 2018 with a vote of 21-6. The vote count in the first committee was 10-2. Importantly, some of the “no” votes were from members of the House leadership team, including Rep. Cummings…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On February 13, 2018, the House Government Operations & Technology Appropriations Subcommittee passed HB 227 with a strike all amendment (#406419). The bill is now in its last committee. The amended bill loosens the requirements for first responders to collect workers’ compensation benefits for PTSD when there is no…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 900 dealing with insurance coverage for firefighters diagnosed with cancer passed the Senate Community Affairs Committee on February 13, 2018 with one amendment. The Senate bill has two committees left. The House bill, HB 695, is likely dead. It was workshopped in its first subcommittee where a discussion…
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. Life, disability, and long term…
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…