Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Brandes (R) had to temporarily postpone the vote on his omnibus insurance bill on February 11, 2020 when he did not have the votes to pass the bill. Sen. Lee (R) is the swing vote in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee and in a heated debate on…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel This week, committees in the House and Senate advanced CFO Patronis’ DFS Consumer Protection bills, HB 1137 and SB 1492. Both bills have one committee left. In the Senate, a strike all amendment (957714) was approved to bring the Senate bill closer to the House bill. The amendment…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate loss run statement bill, SB 292, cleared its last committee on February 5, 2020. The House bill (HB 269) cleared its committees a couple of weeks ago. The bill requires virtually all insurers, including surplus lines, to provide a free annual loss run statement covering five years…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1188 and HB 1409 create a public records exemption for certain sensitive business information held by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) which current law already protects from public records disclosure requirements if held by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). Disclosure of the exempted information, which includes…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Without questions or debate, an insurance omnibus bill was significantly amended in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on February 4, 2020. The original version of SB 1606 contained provisions relating to: Creation of Auto Insurance Online Verification System and related Task Force Repeal of surplus lines agent affidavit…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB 1582 on February 4, 2020. The bill deals with asbestos trust claims. The Senate bill is different from the House bill on key aspects, as noted below. The House bill (HB 741) has already cleared all its committees and is waiting for…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill to revamp the construction defect process cleared its first House committee on January 29, 2020 on a party line 9-4 vote with Republicans voting “yes” and Democrats voting “no.” The bill has two committees left. The Senate companion has not been heard in committee. A strike all…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel This week, the House moved a tort reform bill to the floor when the asbestos trust claim bill passed its last committee. HB 741 passed the House Judiciary Committee with a vote of 12-6. The bill was not amended. It will be heard on the House floor when scheduled…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel An omnibus insurance bill containing primarily clean up or noncontroversial insurance provisions passed its first House committee this week. A committee bill was adopted to replace the original bill, HB 895. The bill has two committees left. The Senate companion, SB 1606, will be heard in its first committee…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 799 and HB 801 revamp Florida’s trade secret protection laws. On January 30, 2020, they passed the Commerce Committee. The bills have one committee left. HB 801 repeals most of the public records exemptions for trade secret protection in current law. The repeals include the exemptions that protect…