Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On January 28, 2020, a vote on Sen. Brandes’ (R) bad faith reform bill was postponed to next week’s committee meeting when the committee ran out of allocated meeting time. The Committee took limited public testimony from two trial lawyers before postponing the bill. The House does not…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House transportation omnibus bill, HB 395, picked up some insurance related provisions in committee on January 28, 2020 via a strike all amendment (263101). The additions change the financial responsibility and self-insurance requirements in current law for taxis and make several TNC changes, including the creation of disability…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Bills allowing advertising on the roofs of TNC vehicles and creating luxury ground transportation TNCs advanced in the House and Senate this week, though the bills have some differences outlined below. The Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee approved SB SB 1352 without amendment. However, the House bill (HB 1039)…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On January 28, 2020, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee unanimously approved HB 971 which defines and creates regulations for electric bikes (e-bikes). The bill was amended and has two committees left. The Senate companion, SB 1148, has not been heard in committee yet. The amended bill creates a…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate PIP repeal bill (SB 378), which also authorizes named driver exclusions, passed its first committee on January 20, 2020 when it was approved by the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and Security chaired by the bill sponsor, Sen. Lee (R). The vote was 6-1. The bill goes…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On December 10, 2019, the Senate autoglass bill (SB 312) was killed during its first committee stop when the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted it down on a 4-4 vote. The vote on the bill came after several amendments to the bill failed. This is the second…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its meeting last week, the Senate Banking and Insurance amended and discussed SB 312, the bill that prohibits repair shops from offering incentives to consumers for making an insurance claim to repair their windshield. However, as the allotted committee time was running short, Chair Broxson (R) said that…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A stand-alone bad faith bill emerged in the Senate this week in advance of the 2020 Session. Sen. Brandes (R), the bill sponsor, has previously sponsored bad faith legislation, is well versed in the subject, and feels strongly about finding solutions to the bad faith problem. SB 924, includes…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Civil Justice Subcommittee held a panel discussion about bad faith during its committee meeting on October 17, 2019. The presentations to the committee can be found here. The Committee also received some public testimony, discussed below, at the end of the meeting. Bad faith and other tort…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On October 10, 2019, the OIR held a rule hearing on the proposed repeal of the administrative rule requiring commercial general liability contracts to provide defense costs outside of the limit of liability. The OIR is proposing to repeal the rule as it is unnecessary or obsolete. FIC lobbyist,…