Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Two legal reform provisions are included in the House insurance omnibus bill, HB 301, filed last week by Rep. Santiago (R). Various stakeholders representing the insurance industry are the proponents of the omnibus bill. The Senate companion to the House omnibus bill has not yet been filed. One provision…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Legislation on several auto insurance issues were filed this week. HB 323 deals with auto glass and prohibits motor vehicle repair shops, their employees, or their compensated nonemployees from offering rebates, gifts, gift cards, cash, coupons, or other things of value for making an insurance glass claim. This language…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On September 20, 2018, in a 4-3 decision, the Florida Supreme Court decided a bad faith case against GEICO (Harvey v. GEICO). In the opinion, the Court reaffirmed its holding in Boston Old Colony v. Gutierrez and Berges v. Infinity Insurance Co., two of the seminal bad faith cases…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 533 to enrolled bill, passed during the 2018 legislative session, takes effect on July 1, 2018. The bill allows an insurer to condition the sale of insurance on the purchase of motor vehicle services if such services are purchased from a membership organization that as of January 1,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Florida Governor Rick Scott signed HB 533 into law last week. Starting July 1, 2018, the bill allows an insurer to condition the sale of insurance on the purchase of motor vehicle services if such services are purchased from a membership organization that as of January 1, 2018 is…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 533 allows auto organizations to condition insurance on membership in the organization. The bill passed the House on January 31, 2018 by a vote of 110-0. The Senate amended the bill and then passed it back to the House for approval of the amendment. The House approved…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 533 allows auto organizations to condition insurance on membership in the organization. The bill passed the House on January 31, 2018 by a vote of 110-0. The Senate heard the bill on special order on March 8, 2018, substituted the House bill for the Senate bill, amended…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 33 changes the current enforcement of the ban on texting while driving from secondary to primary offense which allows a law enforcement officer to stop a vehicle solely for texting while driving. The bill passed the House on March 1, 2018 by a vote of 112-2. It now…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill allowing auto organizations to condition insurance on membership in the organization is in position to pass this year. HB 533 passed the House on January 31, 2018 by a vote of 110-0 and was sent to the Senate. The Senate companion bill, SB 756 passed its…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel After languishing in its second committee for weeks, the Senate personal injury protection (PIP) repeal bill (SB 150) was heard the next to the last week of Session. During its meeting on February 28, 2018, the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee voted the bill down, then…