Insurance ̶ HB 1047 by Rep. Kim Berfield (R-Clearwater) is a wide-ranging bill that touches on various aspects of Florida’s insurance laws. HB 1047 is comparable to SB 230 by Senator Truenow below (“Bills Not in Play”) and SB 790 by Senator Bradley, which is also not in play. A new version of HB 1047 added a provision making it easier for liability lawsuits to be filed. The new language shrinks the notice requirement and timeline for insurers to react to a lawsuit. It passed the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee on March 27 on a 12-6 vote, with most Democrats opposing the bill. The bill’s next and last stop is the House Commerce Committee but as we went to press the agenda for Commerce’s April 22 hearing had not been released. Read More
The bill focuses mostly on property insurance claims, conduct of adjusters, and regulation of insurance companies. But it also touches on agents. The bill’s webpage includes a section titled “Why I filed this bill,” authored by Rep. Berfield herself. She wrote, “The bill aims to ban adversarial practices by public adjusters that could undermine the trust in and delay the claims adjusting process. Additionally, it aims to protect policyholders and improve consumer awareness by clarifying disclosures about flood insurance exclusions in homeowners’ policies and statements required when an insurer provides a preliminary or partial estimate of damages or a partial settlement for damages. The proposed changes seek to enhance transparency in insurance, streamline claims handling, and balance the interests of policyholders and insurers.”
You can read the March 25 bill analysis. Among the bill’s current provisions:
- Defines “sufficient evidence” for precluding bad faith actions against liability insurers.
- Reduces the requirement from 200 hours to 60 hours of coursework to become a general lines insurance agent.
- Changes the required language that insurance companies must use in providing a preliminary or partial estimate of damage regarding a claim, striking the words “the covered” from “This estimate represents our current evaluation of the covered damage to your insured property…”
- Changes the required language that insurance companies must use in providing a partial payment on a claim to say “We have issued a partial settlement,” in place of “We are continuing to evaluate your claim.”
- A public adjuster may not engage in any adversarial conduct with insurance company claims personnel during the course of adjusting claims, including recording them without their consent.
- A public adjuster need only identify their appointment type during an initial text message with a policyholder.
- An insurance company adjuster need only provide their name and license number in an initial text message with a policyholder.
- Clarifies that only property insurance companies with active residential policies in Florida need to have a claims-handling manual.
- Allows an insurance company to cancel or nonrenew a residential policy before the dwelling is repaired upon 45 days’ notice if the named insured does not have an insurable interest in the property.
- Tightens-up existing language about flood insurance exclusions in homeowners policies. (Return to Bill Watch)
