Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Sam Miller, FIC General Counsel The Senate Governmental Oversight & Accountability Committee April 17 approved 6-0 a bill (CS/SB 1008) providing a public records exemption for identifying information of an injured or deceased worker contained in reports, notices, records, or supporting documentation held by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) pursuant to the workers’…
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant SB 530 Health Insurance – by Steube A final vote is scheduled in the Florida Senate April 19 on a package (SB 530) allowing doctors to override step therapy drug protocols and revising prior authorization requirements. The bill came up before the full Senate April 18, and received little debate…
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant SB 340 Transportation Network Companies — by BrandesHB 221 Transportation Network Companies — by Sprowls The Florida Senate is one day and one vote away from sending to Governor Rick Scott a national model-based bill regulating transportation network companies. The bill is largely consistent with the TNC industry national compromise…
By: Sam Miller, FIC ConsultantSB 404 Legislative Ratification — by Simmons The Florida Senate is one vote away from ratifying the 2016 manuals on workers’ compensation reimbursement levels for hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. It would have to be joined by the House, which has not considered the matter so far. The Senate April 18…
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant SB 812 Insurance Policy Transfers — by PerryHB 805 Insurance Policy Transfers — by Ingoglia The Florida Senate is posed to send to Governor Rick Scott the bill making it easier for insurers to transfer homeowners policies within the same group and shut down post-Hurricane Andrew Florida “pup” companies. The…
By: Sam Miller, FIC Consultant HB 1007 Insurer Anti-Fraud Efforts — by RascheinAmendment 252571 [PDF] RascheinSB 1014 Public Records/Division of Investigative and Forensic Services of the Department of Financial Services — by Brandes Various pieces of the Department of Financial Services’ package expanding insurance fraud reporting and investigations were approved by House & Senate committees…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On April 17, 2017, the House Commerce Committee released a proposed committee substitute to the House AOB bill, HB 1421. The proposed committee substitute will replace the current version of the AOB bill. The Committee will vote on the committee substitute at its meeting on April 19, 2017. The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Two Senate construction related bills picked up the same building code amendment in Senate Community Affairs Committee on April 17, 2017. SB 1372 initially dealt with electrical and alarm system contracting, but was amended (amendment #587522 PDF) to add the building code adoption provisions outlined below. SB 1312 initially…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1088 loosens the requirements for first responders to have compensable mental or nervous injuries. The bill passed its first Senate committee on April 17, 2017 and has three committees left. With that many committees remaining, unless the Senate President removes one or more committee references, it is unlikely…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Entities allowed to form a public housing authority self-insurance fund (SIF) are expanded under SB 850 approved by the Senate Community Affairs Committee on April 17, 2017. The bill was not amended. Under current law, only two or more public housing authorities may form a public housing SIF. The…