CFO Sink to State Farm: Release your agents

Just as State Farm officials were about to get grilled before a House panel on insurance, the State's Chief Financial Officer has formally asked the state's largest private insurer to allow their agents to write other homeowners policies. The way it works now is that State Farm agents can only write State Farm policies, but they can also write Citizens Property Insurance Corp. policies. There's a fear that State Farm's withdrawal from the market will end up pushing a lot of its policies into Citizens. Read it here.

Charlie and Nikita linked together?

For the second time during this 10-day special session to balance the budget, Rep. Frank Attkisson has sounded a dire warning to fellow lawmakers: More budget cuts are to come if something isn't done about reduce property insurance rates and reduce property taxes, which he called the "twin towers" that could continue to stifle Florida's economy.

Attkisson, who voted for the initial House package of insurance reforms last January, now calls the insurance plan adopted by the GOP-controlled Legislature and hailed by Gov. Charlie Crist as "socialistic" and that it is more akin to Nikita Khrushchev. Attkisson went further and told state workers they better be worried about their jobs because more cuts are coming if the economy doesn't turn around.

(UPDATE: Rep. Curtis Richardson, who represents part of Leon County, apparently didn't like Attkisson's remarks. He called them "callous" and "wrongheaded" and said state workers should be applauded for their work.)

Lower lawyer fees + less coverage = PIP gridlock

State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, just released her Personal Injury Protection bill that she acknowledges can't pass in the Senate -- at least not now -- because it limits lawyer fees and chiropractic and other non-emergency care.

Heading into a special three-week lawmaking session Sept. 18, Bogdanoff said she was in a Catch-22 over the legislation. If she released it, she said, she would get attacked by all the special interests who have a stake in keeping the current system or scrapping it. But if she didn't release the bill, the issue would go nowhere.

Story about that here

Download Bill.pdf

Download TalkSheet.pdf

Ross: Insurance law is for commies

Rep. Dennis Ross, the Lakeland Republican who was one of just two nay votes opposing the January windstorm insurance fix, has been a busy writer these days.

First, he penned an editorial for the James Madison Institute on the need for scrapping the January insurance fix. Download Ross1.rtf

Then, he just sent out a letter rapping insurance commissioner Kevin McCarty for focusing on "rate reduction solely for the sake of rate reduction and not for the purpose of fostering a competitive market which will ultimately result in the return of private industry.  There has been no effort made by OIR or the Legislature to instill a private market that will compete for consumers’ business."

He continues: "I urge you to consider changing your course and begin anew."

Download ross.doc

Ross has some ties to the re-insurance industry, having taken an industry-paid Bermuda dinner cruise in June 2006. Story here.

Geller wants insurance honchos under oath

Senate Democratic leader Steve Geller, D-Cooper City, just sent out a note asking the Republicans who control the Legislature to hold hearings on why insurance companies aren't lowering rates. Geller wants the hearings held during the budget-cutting Sept. 18 special legislative session.

"As we learned during the Senate’s medical malpractice insurance hearings (in 2003), the stories told under threat of perjury can differ dramatically from those told without fear of sanctions," Geller wrote.

Legislators backtrack on insurance and property tax reforms

This of course seems to be a seasonal event. Legislators come to Tallahassee, vote for a series of bills, proclaim their worthiness, and then....go home and complain about it.

Yesterday legislators who represent Manatee County acknowledged that what has happened on property taxes and insurance hasn't worked out like they had hoped. Rep. Ron Reagan, a Bradenton Republican, said the insurance reforms passed earlier this year were supposed to be a "home run" but "in my opinion we hit a single."

Sen. Michael Bennett, a Bradenton Republican, went so far as to say insurance companies lied when they promised lower rates in exchange for the state assuming more risk in the hurricane catastrophe fund. Both Bennett and Republican blamed leadership in the House and Senate for not pushing ahead with a larger tax cut plan. More here.

Rubio refuses to say if he ousted lawmakers

House Speaker Marco Rubio refused to answer questions Thursday on whether he had forced Rep. Don Brown, a DeFuniak Springs Reublican, and Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican, to give up their leadership posts in the Florida House. Rubio announced a day earlier that Ross and Brown had offered their resignations, but Ross said that Rubio demanded that he resign because Ross voted against the big insurance reform package passed by lawmakers on Monday.

"I stand by my statement,'' said Rubio, shortly after watching Crist sign the insurance bill into law. "I have nothing further to say on this issue."

Ross and Brown resign posts

Two days after Rep. Don Brown, a DeFuniak Springs Republican, and Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican, cast the lone no votes on the massive insurance bill, the two lawmakers have "offered their resignations" as council chairmen, a statement from the office of House Speaker Marco Rubio says.

"Their resignations have been accepted. I respect their decisions and look forward to working with them in their new roles,'' said Rubio in a statement. The resignations have prompted a flurry of moves by Rubio. Brown is out as chairman of the Jobs and Entrepreneurship Council and will take over as chairman of the Insurance Committee. Rep. Ron Reagan, who had been insurance committee chairman, will take Brown's post as council chairman and will also replace him on the Rules and Calendar Council.

Ross will demoted to vice-chairman on the Safety and Security Council, a job he just got when Rep. Holly Benson left her job in the Legislature to work for the administration of Gov. Charlie Crist.

"Kiss My A**" snarled in Miami Rep. spat

The scene: A committee room late at night on day 5 (Saturday) of the special session on insurance.

The players: South Miami Rep. Julio Robaina and Miami Rep. David Rivera, both Republicans.

The fact they agree on most: They don’t like each other very much.

Robaina is upset. For the second year in a row, he’s watching his push to require financial disclosures for national parent companies of Florida subsidiaries (aka “pup companies”) die.

''I'm proud of the House's work on this bill, but it's bad public policy'' says Robaina. He points out that Gov. Charlie Crist made this a campaign issue. Says Rep. Don Brown, a DeFuniak Springs Republican – one of only two members to vote against the bill Monday -- ``The governor doesn't vote on this conference.''

To prevent a public blowup, about a dozen lawmakers huddle in a corner where Robaina speaks in Spanish and English to Rivera. “David, do you support the governor?” Robaina asks according to a number of lawmakers. “Do you support the people of Florida?”

Rivera, initially refusing to look at Robaina, finally stares at him and lets it fly: “Kiss my a**, Julio,” a number of lawmakers say. Some say Robaina responded in turn. Smiling when asked about the incident later, neither would confirm nor deny what was said.

“Usually, when you say something like that, someone says it right back,” Rivera later said, explaining he was annoyed that Robaina publicly questioned the agreement struck with the Senate by Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, who’s scheduled to be House Speaker after Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami.

“I acknowledge I firmly admonished him for publicly disagreeing with Chairman Sansom,” Rivera said.

Said Robaina: “We're going to leave it at this: It's called Miami guys having a spat. There is no issue. We've been battling for a long time. But there is no war. There will be a battle over the pup companies. Make no mistake about that. I’m ready to file a bill as soon as I can.”

Crist threatens to veto insurance bill

Gov. Charlie Crist this morning threatened to veto the insurance reform bill crafted this weekend because of a provision that would have required Citizens customers to switch to private carriers as long as their rates were not 25 percent higher than what Citizens charged. According to those involved, Crist termed the provision a "deal breaker."

House Speaker Marco Rubio confirmed that House and Senate leaders decided this morning to retool the conference report on the insurance bills to accomodate Crist's concerns. But that decision has delayed the final printing on the conference report and now means a final vote on the bill won't come until later this afternoon.