With one week to go in Florida’s regulation legislative session, it appears the scheduled 60 days might not be enough. The legislature’s primary responsibility each year is to pass a state budget for presentation to the Governor. However, due to “philosophical differences” between the House of Representatives and the Senate, key legislators say there’s not […]
As the 2025 legislative session enters its final two weeks, significant questions remain about the fate of key insurance bills. This year’s session has included substantial debate over bills opposed by Governor DeSantis, the Office of Insurance Regulation and the insurance industry. This attention, however, has not translated to action as relatively few bills have […]
The Florida legislative calendar typically ensures there’s no post-holiday haze as we return to work in the new year. This year’s session begins March 4, 2025, and lasts 60 days. This isn’t as early as some years— the session begins in January in even-numbered years. Still, committee meetings begin before the session starts so the […]
The 2021 legislative session is entering its final week, barring an extension. As usual, key insurance legislation remains unresolved in the session’s final days. The session began two short months ago with Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation CEO Barry Gilway discussing problems plaguing Florida’s residential property insurance market. Commissioner Altmaier later […]
The annual 60-day legislative session begins in Florida on March 2, 2021. This session will feature accommodations designed to limit exposures to COVID-19. This includes most public testimony being presented by video stream from an offsite location in downtown Tallahassee. From an insurance perspective, the session will include substantial discussion about the auto and property […]
With this year’s legislative session nearly upon us, the holiday season soon will seem like just a blur. The Florida legislature has one 60-day regular session each year. This year, the session begins on January 14, 2020. The legislature tackled assignment of benefits (AOB) reform in the 2019 session. The new law took effect mid-year, […]
The Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) advises surplus lines agents that a diligent effort exemption for personal residential flood insurance has expired. The Florida legislature previously adopted Section 627.715, Florida Statutes, to encourage the development of a private market for residential flood insurance. Among its provisions, the statute provided at subsection (4): (4) A surplus […]
The 2019 Florida legislative session in only about a week away. This year’s session will be different in some respects than recent sessions, if only due to significant changes in executive branch and legislative officers. The Governor’s office often sets the tone for legislative sessions through developing proposed budgets and advancing public policy issues. The […]
The 2018 Florida legislative session is drawing to a close, barring any extensions or subsequent special sessions. This year’s session has been unusual for issues outside of the typical annual cycles of budgets and other expected business. The 2018 session began with a lot of attention directed to the range of relationships between legislators, staff […]
With only the formal act of adopting the state budget remaining, the 2017 Florida legislative session will close without reforms to Florida’s workers’ compensation laws. Workers’ compensation became a high profile issue for the 2017 session after several court cases determined portions of the existing statutes to be unconstitutional. The workers’ compensation system depends on […]