Banking and Insurance Committee to Conduct Interim Projects
The Banking and Insurance Committee of the Florida Senate has announced its interim projects in anticipation of the 2011 legislative session. The committee staff will conduct project 2011-104 relating to sinkhole insurance, with a report due by October 1, 2010. The project summary notes that Florida has a large number of sinkholes, and problems in the insurance market continue to exist despite legislative reforms in several recent sessions. The project will include review of the neutral evaluation process, presumptions of correctness and other aspects of the sinkhole claims process.
The legislature also will study financial products as alternatives to reinsurance. A bill surfaced in the 2010 session that would have allowed insurers to take credit for products meeting certain standards that otherwise do not qualify as reinsurance. The committee staff also will conduct a project on public adjusters following Governor Crist’s veto of Senate Bill 2044, which would have provide certain public adjuster regulations.
The staff also will monitor the impact of federal health care legislation on the private insurance market in Florida.