Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Assignment of Benefits Reform Moves Forward as Florida House Passes Measure
Apr 12 2019 // Assignment of benefits reform legislation progressed in the Florida legislature yesterday. Lawmakers passed House Bill 7065, one of two key pieces of insurance industry-supported legislation – the other being its...
Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners Acquires Florida’s Lykes Insurance
Apr 11 2019 // Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners (BKS-Partners), an insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has acquired Florida-based, independent firm Lykes Insurance Inc. BKS-Partners currently...
Senate Committee Passes Bill Impacting Florida’s Surplus Lines Insurance Industry
Apr 11 2019 // Senate Bill 538 passed from the Florida Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government on Tuesday, April 9. The bill, sponsored by Senator Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg,...
Florida Could Expand Self-Driving Car Law
Apr 10 2019 // Self-driving vehicles could be operated in Florida without a human backup under a bill approved by a House committee last week, which could pave the way for companies like Uber and Lyft to deploy fleets of driverless...
Florida Legislature Considers Reforms to Non-Admitted Insurance Market
Apr 9 2019 // Two bills seeking to change the way Florida surplus lines business is handled are currently working their way through the Florida State Legislature and advocates say the potential laws could bring much needed efficiency to...
Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners Acquires Lykes Insurance of Florida
Apr 9 2019 // Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners (BKS-Partners), an insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has acquired Florida-based, independent firm, Lykes Insurance. The partnership finalized on...
Judge Rejects Lawsuit from Florida Sheriff Fired After High School Shooting
Apr 9 2019 // A judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Florida sheriff whom Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended after accusing him of failing to prevent the Parkland school shooting. Broward Circuit Judge David Haimes ruled that...
Miami’s Rising Seas Force ‘Underwater Homeowners’ to Mobilize
Apr 5 2019 // The “Underwater Homeowners Association” sounds like a sad joke about the future of real estate in flood-prone Miami. It’s actually an earnest effort to turn neighbors into climate-change advocates,...
Florida Gov to Form Opioid Task Force
Apr 4 2019 // Florida’s Office of Drug Control will be re-established in the governor’s office and a state task force on drug abuse will be set up to provide a unified vision for battling the state’s opioid epidemic,...
Hurricane Michael Debris Fueling Wildfire in Florida Panhandle
Apr 2 2019 // Nearly two dozen Florida homes have been evacuated because of a 500-acre wildfire that grew rapidly overnight because of downed trees from Hurricane Michael. Authorities say the fire broke out Saturday in the Panhandle...
Florida Pharmacist Convicted in $100M Pharmacy Fraud Scheme
Apr 2 2019 // A Florida pharmacist was sentenced last month to 120 months in prison followed by three years supervised release for his role in a massive compounding pharmacy fraud scheme, which impacted private insurance companies,...
Florida Serial Arsonist Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison
Apr 2 2019 // A serial arsonist in Florida was sentenced last month to 18 years in prison and 12 years of probation for two counts of arson to an occupied dwelling and one count of arson to a motorcycle, according to a statement from...
Florida Looks to Add Insurance Requirements, Regulations for Cosmetic Surgery Clinics
Apr 1 2019 // Choeun Nuon traveled from her home in California to a Miami-area cosmetic surgery clinic to have a so-called Brazilian butt lift in February 2017. Instead of recovering after the procedure, the 32-year-old mother of two...
Scientists Investigate Recent Earthquakes in the South
Apr 1 2019 // Scientists are sending additional sensors to south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle with aims of solving the mystery of what caused a spate of recent earthquakes. Five earthquakes have been detected in the region within a...
More Than $40M Recovered for Insurance Consumers in 2018
Apr 1 2019 // More than $40.5 million was recovered for Florida insurance consumers in 2018, including $17.4 million recovered for Hurricane Michael victims, by the state’s Insurance Consumer Helpline, according to a statement...
Declarations
Apr 1 2019 // ‘About Damn Time’ “Today’s action to finally allow smokable medical marijuana brings four words to the lips of people across our state: It’s about damn time. It’s long past due that the...
Fire Knocks Out Power to 22K People in South Florida
Mar 29 2019 // Authorities in Florida say a fire at a power utility substation left thousands of people without power in Broward County. News outlets report an explosion at a Florida Power & Light substation in Fort Lauderdale late...
Strong Storm Causes Hail Damage in Central Florida
Mar 29 2019 // A series of hail storms in central Florida dinged up car windshields and blew off pool screens in an unusual sight for the Sunshine State. In tiny Trenton, the streets were covered in so much hail that it resembled a snow...
Miami Insurance Agent Arrested for Stealing $620K in Premiums
Mar 29 2019 // A former licensed insurance agency owner was arrested in Florida after allegedly stealing more than $620,000 in insurance premiums, according to a statement from Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy...
Florida’s Citizens: $200M Reinsurance Buy Needed to Protect Personal Lines Surplus
Mar 28 2019 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp. plans to purchase approximately $200 million in traditional reinsurance coverage for the 2019 hurricane season to protect its Personal Lines Account (PLA) surplus it says is exposed to...
