Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Condo Bill Gives Owners Some Slack But Brings New Insurance Concerns
May 7 2025 // Florida lawmakers late last week gave final approval to a long-debated condominium bill, one designed to give condo owners a little relief on the high cost of bringing structures up to code. But the final version of the...
Florida Bill Passes Making it Easier for Agents to Seek Surplus Lines Coverage
May 6 2025 // Starting July 1, Florida insurance agents will no longer need to make a “diligent effort” to find coverage for hard-to-place properties before turning to surplus lines insurance if the governor signs House Bill...
Florida Bill Would End Board of Engineers and Other Professional Agencies, Raising Concerns for Insurance Industry
May 5 2025 // Elon Musk’s age of government efficiency has spread to Florida, with legislation that would abolish at least 22 state boards that oversee licensing and disciplinary reviews for engineers, contractors, building...
Florida Lawmakers Vote to Repeal ‘Free Kill’ Law Affecting Med Mal Suits
May 2 2025 // Adult children and parents of young adults who died under medical care will soon be able to recover punitive and pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice lawsuits if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a bill into...
Florida Citizens ‘Going Naked’ on Reinsurance Below Cat Fund Layer
May 2 2025 // Reinsurance prices have dropped since Florida’s 2022-2023 litigation reform measures were enacted, but the biggest rate reductions are mostly for reinsurance above what the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund...
Judge Says Local Police Must Halt Enforcement of Florida Immigration Law
May 1 2025 // MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge told attorneys for the state of Florida on Tuesday that an order freezing the enforcement of a new state immigration law absolutely applies to all of the state’s local law enforcement...
Florida Set to Be 2nd State to Ban Fluoride From Public Water Systems
May 1 2025 // Florida is poised to become the second state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, overriding the concerns of dentists and public health advocates who say the mineral is a safe, effective way to protect people of all...
Attorney Fee Amendment Shot Down by Florida Senate; Condo Relief Bill Passes
May 1 2025 // Florida’s Senate late Wednesday refused to go along with a prevailing-party attorney-fee amendment to a phosphate mine bill, likely leaving it dead for 2025 as the legislative session nears the end. The amendment to...
Many Snowbirds Looking to Pack Up and Fly North For Good; Florida Hit Hard
Apr 29 2025 // The number of Canadian “snowbirds” planning to sell their second homes in sunny Florida and Arizona has surged this spring, many of them put off by the sudden chill that has blanketed relations between their...
Did Florida House ‘Sneak’ Attorney Fee Wording Into Phosphate Mine Bill?
Apr 28 2025 // A late amendment to a phosphate mine bill has set off alarm bells among some in the Florida insurance industry, with concerns that it could cut out the heart of 2022 and 2023 legislative changes that disincentivized...
Florida Class Action Targets Litigation Funding Firm Over Data Breach
Apr 25 2025 // Third-party litigation financing has become big business across the country, much to the chagrin of businesses and insurance companies that have faced multi-million lawsuit verdicts. But now one Florida-based litigation...
Everglades Restoration Aims to Protect Florida Keys, Water, State Economy
Apr 23 2025 // ISLAMORADA, Fla. (AP) — The Everglades is more than just swamps, fan boats and alligators — and restoration efforts impact more than the land between Florida’s east and west coasts. Florida Bay, a body of water...
South Florida Insurance Broker Pleads Guilty to Fraud in $133M ACA Enrollment Scheme
Apr 22 2025 // A south Florida insurance broker is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last week to a $134 million scheme that fraudulently enrolled thousands of people in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. Dafud Iza, 54,...
Florida Bill Advances, Would End Board of Engineers, Other Professional Agencies
Apr 21 2025 // Elon Musk’s age of government efficiency has spread to Florida, with legislation advanced last week that would abolish at least 22 state boards that oversee licensing and disciplinary reviews for engineers,...
Dueling Regulators: Florida OIR Slams DFS in Effort to Combine Agency Insurance Oversight. DFS Pushed Back.
Apr 21 2025 // In a March memo to lawmakers, Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation sharply criticized the state’s rather unique two-agency insurance regulatory structure, arguing that the Department of Financial Services...
Major Florida Grower to Build New Home Development After Ending Citrus Operations
Apr 18 2025 // FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — One of Florida’s biggest citrus growers plans to build a 3,000-acre (1,200 hectare) community in southwest Florida, just months after announcing it was abandoning its citrus-growing...
Florida’s Anchor Insurance is Reborn as Patriot Select With $29M in Capital
Apr 17 2025 // It was once known as Anchor Property & Casualty Insurance Co., based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and launched in 2014. Then it was known as another Florida carrier that had slipped into financial troubles and was...
King Risk Acquires Watts Dawson Agency in Florida
Apr 16 2025 // King Risk Partners, based in Gainesville, Florida, has acquired Watts, Dawson & Associates, an independent agency with offices in Temple Terrace and Valrico, Florida. The move expands King Risk’s presence in...
Growing Fast, Going Public: Florida’s American Integrity Insurance Files for IPO
Apr 15 2025 // American Integrity Insurance, one of the largest property insurance carriers in Florida with more than 350,000 policies in force, is going to Wall Street with an initial public offering. The Tampa-based parent company,...
People: Florida-Based Security First Elevates Two to Key Roles
Apr 15 2025 // Security First Insurance, one of the larger carriers in Florida, with 136,500 policies in force, has elevated two people to key positions. Scot Moore was named chief financial officer, the insurer said in an announcement...
