Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Wednesday, September 19

Sep 19, 2012

 

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 Board of Employee Leasing Companies Board Meeting; Jacksonville, Florida.  To view the meeting notice, click here.

 

 

Daily Insurance-Related News

 

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater urges Citizens Property Insurance to take it slow on loan program

The state’s Chief Financial Officer expressed doubt that the state-run insurer would be able to implement a program to use surplus funds to loan to private companies that take over its policies for at least 10 years.

 

State Representative Frank Artiles:  It’s our money that Citizens Property Insurance is gambling

Plainly speaking, it amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

Florida’s Take-Out History

Florida’s so-called “last-resort insurer,” Citizens Property Insurance Corp., is the Sunshine State’s largest property carrier but it recently approved a plan to loan its surplus to private “take-out” insurance companies willing to assume bundles of policies. 

 

More than 250 of 2,000 lightning strikes hit Broward and Palm Beach counties

A line of thunderstorms, pushing eastward ahead of a cold front, provided South Florida with quite a light show Tuesday night.

 

Manatee County:  Ellenton couple says bats forced them out of their home 

A Manatee County family is battling a bat problem.

 

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. Announces That Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company Has Received Approval of Homeowners Insurance Rates and Forms in Maryland

Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. announced that the Maryland Insurance Administration has approved the homeowners insurance rates and forms of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company.

 

Florida lawsuits over worker pay soar as economy struggles

A recent lawsuit accusing Orlando-based Darden Restaurants of underpaying servers is one of a growing number of legal actions by workers who say their employers have shortchanged them.

 

Florida Governor Rick Scott very concerned about state pension fund’s investment return

Governor Rick Scott said Tuesday he remains “extremely concerned” that a 7.75 percent projected earning rate of the Florida Retirement System’s massive investment portfolio is too high, and that meeting pension payments to hundreds of thousands of government retirees could become a big burden on future state budgets.

 

Blog:  Florida Governor Rick Scott reacts to American Airlines’ layoffs

Governor Rick Scott issued the following statement today after American Airlines’ announcement that it expects to reduce their Florida workforce by 1,400 workers before the end of the year.

 

Coastal counties meet to consider uses for oil spill compensation

Representatives of 23 Gulf Coast counties in Florida are scheduled to meet Wednesday in St. Pete Beach to discuss 2010 oil spill compensation.

 

Dog track, business leaders push for legalized slots in Palm Beach County

The Palm Beach Kennel Club is working with local business leaders to urge voters to approve a referendum on the November ballot that could allow slot machines at the dog track.

 

Former water district board members urge Governor Scott to restore lost tax revenue

Twenty former board members of Florida’s five water management districts have written to Governor Rick Scott this week asking him restore funding for the regional agencies.

 

Florida Governor Rick Scott wants to reduce Florida school regulations

Governor Rick Scott is shifting his focus on cutting state regulation to Florida’s schools.

 

Study warns of a much fatter Florida

A new national report calling for more urgent action to prevent obesity outlines a stark future in Florida: If we do nothing to curb current trends, the percentage of obese adult Floridians is projected to explode from 26.6 today to 58.6 percent in 2030.

 

Brown Signs California Workers’ Comp Bill

California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a bill to increase disability benefits for injured workers while taking a bite out of the rising cost of workers’ compensation insurance premiums.

 

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance continues shedding policies

The state property insurer of last resort has shed 67,662 policies to private insures in the last four years, and company officials estimate that they may lose another 5,000 in the next few weeks.

 

White Mountains Sues Allstate over Esurance Price

White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd has filed a federal lawsuit against peer Allstate Corp over the 2011 sale of the online auto insurer Esurance, alleging that Allstate inappropriately lowered the final purchase price.

 

Solvency regulations for insurers are disproportionate – report

Regulations that require insurance companies to hold much higher capital reserves to remain in the black following a natural disaster are out of proportion to the actual losses to which they are exposed, a report has said.

 

 

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