Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On April 18, 2017, the full House heard the comprehensive workers’ compensation reform bill, HB 7085, for the first time. The bill is a committee bill from the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee and its Committee Chair, Chair Burgess is shepherding the bill through the House. The House…
By: Sam Miller, FIC General Counsel The Senate Governmental Oversight & Accountability Committee April 17 approved 6-0 a bill (CS/SB 1008) providing a public records exemption for identifying information of an injured or deceased worker contained in reports, notices, records, or supporting documentation held by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) pursuant to the workers’…
By: Sam Miller, FIC ConsultantSB 404 Legislative Ratification — by Simmons The Florida Senate is one vote away from ratifying the 2016 manuals on workers’ compensation reimbursement levels for hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. It would have to be joined by the House, which has not considered the matter so far. The Senate April 18…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 1088 loosens the requirements for first responders to have compensable mental or nervous injuries. The bill passed its first Senate committee on April 17, 2017 and has three committees left. With that many committees remaining, unless the Senate President removes one or more committee references, it is unlikely…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the Senate workers’ compensation reform package on April 13, 2017. The Committee also adopted a delete everything amendment to the bill that largely made technical changes to the bill. The concepts for comp reform contained in the original version of the bill were…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Saying his goal was to produce stability and reduce rates, Chair Burgess presented the comprehensive workers’ compensation reform bill, HB 7085, to the House Commerce Committee. The bill is a committee bill from the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee. The Commerce Committee spent over two hours on the bill,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House bill to shield workers’ comp claimant identifying information from claimant’s attorneys to prevent solicitation is moving quickly through its House committees. It passed its last committee on April 6, 2017 with one amendment. It will be heard on the floor at the discretion of the Rules Committee. …
By: Sam Miller, FIC ConsultantSB 404 Legislative Ratification — by SimmonsSimmons 546448 PDF The full Senate may soon may take up a bill ratifying the 2016 manuals on workers’ compensation reimbursement levels for hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. It will not, apparently, consider a bill repealing the legislative ratification requirement. The Senate Rules Committee April…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel After spending only 20 minutes on workers’ comp, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed the comp reform bill on April 3, 2017 with a vote of 7-1. Sen. Gainer, a Republican car dealer from the Panhandle, was the only “no” vote. The short period of time spent on…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel A bill intended to shield injured worker information from claimant’s attorneys to prevent attorney solicitation passed its first Senate committee on April 3, 2017. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee approved a delete everything amendment before passing SB 1008. The delete everything amendment kept the original intent of the…