Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Thursday, February 20
Feb 20, 2014
To go directly to the section of your choice, click on a hyperlink below. Other hyperlinks to meeting information, bills and news are noted in bold type.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events
10:00 a.m.–Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Association Board of Governors meeting. To view the agenda, click here.
4:00 p.m.–Florida Citizens Property Insurance Actuarial and Underwriting Committee meeting. Teleconference: 866-361-7525; conference ID: 8632017402#. To view the meeting notice, click here.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
A controversial $6.5 million contract with a West Palm Beach law firm is supposed to bring down the cost of handling claims lawsuits in the long run, but that’s not necessarily the direction things are headed for now, officials at state-run insurer Citizens heard at a meeting Wednesday. Charles Elmore reports for the Palm Beach Post.
Citizens Property Insurance execs push for “kinder, gentler” and smaller company
In less than two years, Citizens Property Insurance has dropped its policy count by a half-million, pushing the state-run insurer of last resort below 1 million policies for the first time since 2006, Jeff Harrington reports for Tampa Bay Times.
Sunshine State News Editorial: Anybody but Sean Shaw
Do the voters of District 61 really know who Sean Shaw is and what his election to the Florida Legislature might mean to important insurance reforms? Sunshine State News Editor and Publisher Nancy Smith weighs in.
Bills Banning Insurers From Discriminating Against Gun Owners Is Close To Floor Vote
Bills aimed at enhancing the penalties if an insurer discriminates against a gun owner are moving through both chambers of the Florida Legislature. But, some are raising concerns about the reasoning behind the measure, saying there’s not enough evidence to support it, Sascha Cordner reports for WFSU.org.
Senate Rules panel approves residency definition
Florida’s Senate Rules Committee gave quick, unanimous approval Wednesday to a set of legal criteria for making sure Florida legislators live in their districts, The Florida Current’s Bill Cotterell reports.
Development bill clears another committee stop despite counties’ opposition
A bill dealing exempting more counties from state review of larger developments passed its second committee stop Wednesday despite new opposition from the Florida Association of Counties, The Florida Current’s Bruce Ritchie reports.
New tech agency plan moves in House as McKeel takes aim at Florida Department of Management Services
Lawmakers from both the House and Senate say they are closer to approving a new agency to oversee information technology projects and set new standards for information technology management across most state departments, The Florida Current’s Gray Rohrer reports.
Lizbeth Benacquisto announced today that she has more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot via petition in the race to replace former U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, who resigned his House seat in January, Phil Ammann reports for SaintPetersBlog.com.
Consumer Group Blasts “Misleading” Senate Bill to Delay Flood Insurance Hikes
The House of Representatives should defeat flood insurance legislation passed by the Senate in January because it “would have the effect of misleading tens of thousands of homeowners concerning their vulnerability to flooding, undermine the flood program’s viability and increase taxpayer costs,” according to the Consumer Federation of America, Insurance Journal reports.
NCOIL International Task Force Moves Forward, Forms State-Official Working Group
In a call to interested parties on Friday, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators reported in a news release that it has stepped up its strategy to guard the soundness of state-level consumer protections and insurer solvency and to promote understanding of the successful state-based insurance oversight system.
In a news release this week, NCOIL reported that co-chairs of its newly created Task Force on Unclaimed Property, Reps. Bob Damron (KY) and George Keiser (ND), in a conference call with Task Force and Advisory Council members yesterday, stressed that oversight of unclaimed property relating to insurance should be statutory and that departments of insurance in the individual states, with direction from state legislators, should be the guiding force in that process.
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