Week 1 - 2012 Florida Legislature: rapid start for PIP, Citizens depop, captives

The 2012 legislative session got off to a rapid start – from an insurance perspective – with important and minor bills moving through the committee process.  Here’s a summary of week 1 action:

• PIP in the House – Emergency Care Coverage substituted for PIP.  The House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee approved HB 119, an aggressive reform package that would replace personal injury protection (PIP) motor vehicle insurance with new Emergency Care Coverage (ECC).  Under this initial version of the House bill, ECC would provide hospital emergency room treatment within the first 72 hours following an accident.  After the emergency, covered treatment would be confined to a very limited group of health care providers (medical physicians, osteopathic physicians, dentists, physician assistants, and registered nurse practitioners).  Also in the package are significant legal reforms, including caps on attorney fees.  This House bill is highly controversial and likely to go through many changes.  For further detail, see House Staff Analysis of HB 119 (Jan. 10, 2012). 

• PIP in the Senate.  A weaker PIP reform package, SB 1860, was introduced in the Senate during week 1.  

For information more on Week 1 differences between the House and Senate versions, read Senate and House PIP proposals could be on a collision course (The Florida Current, Jan. 9, 2012).  A collection of news stories on PIP appears in The Florida Current.

• Citizens Property Insurance Corporation – surplus lines depopulation.  A minor depopulation measure was approved by committees in both the House (HB 245) and Senate (SB 578).  The bills would enable surplus lines (non-regulated) carriers to participate in takeout plans to remove policies from Citizens in bulk.  The bills are ready for action on the floors of the full House and Senate later this session.

• Captive Insurers.  A captive insurer is an insurance company that primarily insures a business entity that owns or is affiliated with the captive.  Legislation is being proposed to modernize captive laws and, say the sponsors, to bring jobs to Florida.  The bills are ready for floor action in the House (HB 379) and have one more Committee stop in the Senate (SB 610).

• Insurance Agents & Adjusters.  A bill proposed by CFO Atwater and the Department of Financial Services, to streamlined the licensing of agents and adjusters, was approved in both a House committee (HB 725) and a Senate committee (SB 938).

For more information on pending insurance legislation, go to the 2012 Key Insurance Bills tab of TallyInsLaw.com.

This summary was prepared by Perry Cone and posted at TallyInsLaw.com.

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