Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report – Thursday, May 19, 2016

May 19, 2016

 

Florida’s Private Flood Insurance Market More Buoyant

Private insurers are slowly entering the Florida flood insurance market.  Assurant Inc. will begin offering policies covering up to $800,000 in flood damage for Florida homes in at-risk areas, the Sun-Sentinel reports via Crain’s Miami.

  

RMS Opens New Office in Tallahassee, Florida

RMS, a global catastrophe risk management firm, has opened a new office in Tallahassee, Florida after the acquisition of HWIND Scientific in October 2015.  Insurance Journal reports.

  

FPL Parent Company Asked to Report on Cost of Sea Level Risk

Shareholders at NextEra Energy’s annual meeting in Oklahoma City on Thursday will be asked to vote on two issues that the parent company of Florida Power & Light and its board don’t support: a mandate that the company annually report on the risks and costs of sea level rise and another that it disclose all campaign contributions made to candidates, campaigns and non-profits.  The Miami Herald’s Mary Ellen Klas reports.

 

State of Florida Seeks to Return $1.5 Billion in Unclaimed Property

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and his team have been investigating what they call “Systemic Practices within the Life Insurance Industry that grossly reduce the number of Life Insurance Policies that are properly – and timely – paid out.”  Ginger Gadsden reports for ClickOrlando.com.

 

Disgraced Former WellCare Exec Looking to Cash Out

In May 2014, former WellCare Chief Executive Todd Farha of Tampa was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of defrauding the Florida Medicaid program, Gareth Kelly reports via SaintPetersBlog.com.

  

More Florida Boating Accidents Despite Drop in Fatalities

A report shows the number of boating accidents in Florida sharply increased in 2015 over 2014, despite there being a 25 percent decrease in fatalities, the Associated Press reports via SaintPetersBlog.com.

  

Tampa Bay Still Sits Near the Top of The Nation for “Zombie Homes” in Foreclosure

The Tampa Bay metro area continues to have one of the nation’s largest number of “Zombie Foreclosures” — vacant homes that banks are repossessing, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

 

New Surgeon General Aims to Make Florida a “Leader in Public Health”

In an email to Florida Department of Health employees on Wednesday, newly appointed State Surgeon General Celeste Philip said she was “Dedicated” to making Florida “a national leader in public health,” Christine Sexton reports for Politico Florida.

  

Negron Sees Bright Futures as Key in Plans

Preparing to make public universities a priority during the next two years, incoming Senate President Joe Negron said more and better scholarships will help take Florida’s higher-education system to the next level.  THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA’s Margie Menzel reports via the Lakeland Ledger.

 

New Survey:  What Florida Man or Woman Deserves a Statue?

Florida wants the public to help decide who should get to replace Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith.  The Florida Legislature earlier this year agreed to replace the statue of Smith as one of the state’s two contributions to the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection, FloridaPolitics.com reports.

 

 

 

 

Click here to follow Colodny Fass on Twitter (@ColodnyFassLaw)

 

 

 

 

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an e-mail to colodnyfassnews@gmail.com.