Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
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…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Business groups are pitted against the trial bar on 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 HB 759 and HB 761 revamping Florida’s trade secret protection laws passed its first committee on March 6, 2019 without amendment. The Senate companion bills (SB 1414 and SB 1416) are similar and have not yet been heard in committee. HB 759 repeals most of the public records exemptions…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 780 increases the salary of JCCs to the salary of a county court judge with the Chief Judge making $1,000 more. The bill also requires the JCC salaries to be paid out of the Workers’ Compensation Administration Trust Fund. The bill unanimously passed its first Senate committee…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its meeting on February 20, 2019, the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee passed HB 387, a bill dealing with surplus lines. One amendment (PDF) was adopted to the bill. As amended, the bill: Continues to allow a per-policy fee charged by a surplus lines agent, but removes the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel During its committee meeting on February 13, 2019, the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee passed a committee substitute for HB 301 (PCS), the House omnibus insurance bill by a vote of 9-4. The “no” votes on the bill were due to the changes made to the bill to the…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel HB 301, the House omnibus insurance bill, will be significantly pared down under a proposed committee substitute (PCS) filed by the bill sponsor on February 6, 2019. The House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee will vote on the proposed committee substitute during their meeting next week. The proposed changes bring…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 328 increases the jurisdictional threshold for county court, along with other changes to the court system. It unanimously passed its first Senate committee on February 4, 2019 with one amendment. Starting January 1, 2020, the amended bill increases the county court jurisdictional threshold from $15,000 to $30,000 but the…