Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate started moving their autonomous vehicle (AV) bill on March 20, 2019 when it unanimously passed its first committee, Senate Infrastructure and Security. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Brandes (R) who has sponsored AV legislation in past Sessions and is super knowledgeable and a champion for AV…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Transportation & Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee approved the autonomous vehicle bill on March 19, 2019 without amending it. The autonomous vehicles bill, HB 311, does not contain any insurance provisions. The bill changes and adds definitions in the autonomous vehicle law. It excludes autonomous vehicles from current law…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 754, by Sen. Stewart (D), passed its second committee on March 18, 2019. The bill was not amended though the bill sponsor said she was working on an amendment to deal with the deductible. The bill prohibits the shops or an employee of the shop to offer…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A stand-alone bill to standardize first party and third party bad faith claims passed its first House committee on March 13, 2019 with an amendment that substantially revamped the original bill. By a vote of 11-5, the House Civil Justice Subcommittee approved HB 751. It has two more committees…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1052, one of the two Senate PIP repeal bills, passed its first committee on March 12, 2019. The other Senate PIP repeal bill has not yet been heard in committee. The House PIP repeal bill has also not been heard in committee. SB 1052 by Sen. Lee (R)…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 765 is a compilation of auto insurance issues, namely auto insurance verification system, named driver exclusion, prepayment of premium for auto insurance, and salvage motor vehicles. The bill passed its first House committee on March 12, 2019. It was amended with a strike all amendment that removed some…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 754, by Rep. Stewart (D), passed its first committee on March 11, 2019. The bill was not amended. The bill prohibits the shops or an employee of the shop to offer customers a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon, or other thing of value for making an insurance…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counse The House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee unanimously passed bills dealing with motorized scooters and autonomous vehicles during its meeting on March 6, 2019. Neither bill was amended in committee. HB 453 is the scooter bill and deals with local government regulation of them. The bill authorizes a county or…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 431 makes numerous changes to Florida’s lien law relating to recovering, towing, or storing motor vehicles. There are two insurance related provisions in the bill. One provision allows an auto lienor or lienor’s agent to charge an administrative fee up to $250 against an insurer insuring the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 76 makes distracted driving as a primary traffic offense, meaning law enforcement can pull a vehicle over if the driver is seen committing the offense. Driving while distracted is defined to include a number of physical activities which cause driver distractions in addition to the handheld use of…