Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1414 and SB 1416 significantly change the way trade secret information provided to state agencies is protected from the public records law. Both bills unanimously passed their first committee on March 25, 2019. Although Sen. Torres (D) expressed concerns about the bills, he voted for them anyway.…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Wright, the sponsor of this year’s construction defects bill, asked that the bill be temporarily postponed by the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second week in a row. He wants to work on finding a compromise with the stakeholders over the interim. Thus, the bill is not…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House dangerous instrumentality bill which the bill sponsor describes as a “balanced bill” for all sides is teed up for the House floor. It passed its last committee on March 21, 2019 with a 12-4 vote. It was amended to more closely match the Senate companion, SB…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 337 by Rep. Leek (R) increases the jurisdictional threshold for county court, along with other changes to the court system. It passed its first House committee on March 20, 2019 with a strike all amendment that rewrote the bill. The bill has two committees left. The bill increasing…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A tort reform bill dealing with the dangerous instrumentality doctrine moved out of its first Senate committee on March 18, 2019 with one amendment. The bill pits business groups against the trial bar and is in response to a 2018 Florida Supreme Court decision which expanded the dangerous instrumentality…
By: Greenberg Traurig The Senate Banking & Insurance Committee passed the blockchain work group bill on March 18, 2019. Following are notes on the committee meeting prepared by Greenberg Traurig: SB 1024 Blockchain Technology by Sen Gruters PASSED SummarySB 1024 establishes the Florida Blockchain Working Group comprised of government and industry representatives to study the ways…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 759 and HB 761 revamp Florida’s trade secret protection laws. They passed their second committee on March 14, 2019 without amendment. The bills are now in its last House committee. The Senate companion bills (SB 1414 and SB 1416) are similar and have not yet been heard in…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Committees in the House and Senate approved each chamber’s insurance omnibus bill during meetings this week. The Senate advanced their insurance omnibus bill (SB 714) on March 11, 2019 after amending it. Two days later, the House advanced their bill (HB 301) after amending the civil remedy notice…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Business groups and the trial bar are sparring over a bill about Florida’s dangerous instrumentality law. Part of the bill will shield companies that lease certain mobile equipment from liability for damages caused by the equipment if the lessee has insurance in the required amounts. The impetus for HB…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its meeting on March 11, 2019, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed SB 538, a bill dealing with surplus lines, with one amendment. The amendment removed the section of the bill that dealt with which surplus lines premium tax rate Florida insureds paid when the insured…