Saturday, February 11, 2012

Passed House or ready for House vote, end of week 5, 2012

Seven insurance bills have either been passed by the Florida House of Representatives or approved by all required House committees, as of the end of week 5, 2012 Florida legislative session. All are waiting for additional committee action in the Senate.

The following measures have passed the House as of the end of week 5:
  • Citizens depopulation through surplus lines - HB 245 would provide that eligible surplus lines insurers may participate in Citizens depopulation. This is the only bill passed by the House that is ready for a vote by the full Senate (SB 578).
  • Medicaid Services (Exchange) - HB 5301 would allow Florida to develop a state exchange for Medicaid under PPACA, the federal health insurance reform law. This bill has no Senate companion.
  • Repeal of Annual Report for Cat Fund and Citizens HB 4059 would repeal a requirement that the Financial Services Commission provide an annual report of probable maximum losses, financing options, potential assessments of the FHCF and Citizens.
  • Repeal of Uniform Home Grading Scale HB 4061 would repeal a requirement for adoption by the Financial Services Commission of a uniform scale to grade the ability of homes to withstand wind load from tropical storms or hurricanes.
  • Certificate-of-Exemption Process, Workers Compensation Insurance.  HB 307 would exclude non-construction members of limited liability companies from the definition of “employee” (unless they elect to be included), thus exempting them from workers compensation coverage, and makes other changes in the exemption application process. The bill is supported by the Florida Association of Insurance Agents but has no visible support from insurers or the business trade associations, such as Associated Industries of Florida (neutral).
    These bills were approved by their final House committee as of the end of week 5, and are ready for a full House vote:
    • Citizens regular assessments - HB 1127 would decrease Citizens regular assessments on private insurers and surplus lines insureds, from a maximum of 18% (current law) to 2% (proposed), shifting the balance (if any) to the emergency assessment mechanism. For an interesting spin on the issue, see Citizens . . . Welfare Changes Game (The Ledger.com Feb. 15, 2012).
    • Captive insurance - HB 379 would modernize Florida's laws for setting up captive insurers in the state. A captive insurer is an insurance company that primarily insures a business entity that owns or is affiliated with the captive.
    This summary was prepared by Perry Cone and posted at TallyInsLaw.com.

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