Sunday, February 6, 2011

Insurance Regulations Not Covered by Governor's Freeze, Yet

There are not many of them, but most insurance regulations pending approval are not covered by Governor Rick Scott's executive order that freezes rulemaking.  Still, these regulations could be put on hold by the Governor and Cabinet.

On his first day in office, Scott issued four executive orders, one of which freezes rulemaking by executive agencies controlled by the Governor.  Approval of such executive agency rules is on hold pending establishment of a new office to review proposed new or revised rules.  For more information, follow this link to the Governor's press release.

Insurance regulations have different sources of authorization (here is where things get a bit complicated).  Regulations of the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) governing insurance companies are approved by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which consists of all four statewide elected officers - the Governor, the Chief Financial Officer, the Attorney General, and the Agriculture Commissioner - also known as the Governor and Cabinet.  Insurance agent / agency/ adjuster rules are promulgated by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), which is under control of the Chief Financial Officer.  Regulations of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund are approved by the State Board of Administration (SBA), which has as its trustees the Governor, the Chief Financial Officer, and the Attorney General.

Typically, the SBA conducts its meetings in conjunction with the FSC.  At its first two meeting of the year, the FSC did not take action on rules.

The few insurance regulations under consideration by the OIR are available at this link: Rule Hearings/Workshops of OIR.

Rules and proposed rules of the Cat Fund are available at this link:   http://www.sbafla.com/fhcf/FHCFRules/tabid/280/Default.aspx

Notices of DFS rulemaking are available at this link:  http://www.myfloridacfo.com/agents/

About:
Perry Cone practices insurance, compliance and government law, and provides consulting to in-house counsel, from the Tallahassee office of GrayRobinson. He writes from his perspective as a former general counsel, executive, and leader in the Florida insurance industry. Visit Perry's blog at www.tallyinslaw.com/

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