Early voting started Friday and will continue through Oct. 7 for a pair of special elections in Hillsborough County, one that could determine Temple Terrace’s next mayor and another to decide the GOP nominee in HD 58.
Three Republican lawmakers and the leading GOP candidate in HD 58 will hold a joint fundraiser Sept. 20 in San Antonio, Fla.
The Florida House approved a workers’ compensation fix Tuesday intended to answer the Florida Supreme Court’s objections to the system by adding flexibility on attorney fees in benefits challenges, and by boosting benefits for injured workers. The measure, HB 7085, passed on a vote of 82-37, shortly before the Senate bill cleared the Rules Committee. Danny Burgess, whose Insurance & Banking Subcommittee pulled together the various interests in hours of hearings on the bill, conceded, “This product is not perfect.”…
The House defeated a series of Democratic amendments to its version of a workers’ compensation fix Tuesday, with sponsor Danny Burgess promising the bill would “enhance the fairness and the balance of the workers’ compensation system in Florida.” Burgess, whose Insurance & Banking Subcommittee drafted the legislation, also predicted a decline in premiums, following the 14.5 percent rate increase that began taking effect in December. “We are told it could be up to a 5 percent reduction,” he said. Still,…
Grab your bonnet, pull out the seersucker and get ready for a good-old-fashion Easter egg hunt. Americans are expected to spend about $18.4 billion on Easter this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey. That projection is 6 percent higher than last year’s record of $17.3 billion and marks an all-time high in the 14 years the national organization has conducted the survey. The increase in spending is likely due to how late the holiday falls on the…
Trial attorneys issued a denunciation Monday of the workers’ compensation reform package now headed for a House floor vote. HB 7085 is “a handout to the insurance industry and its big-business allies – one that does little to benefit injured workers or most employers,” the Florida Justice Association said in a written statement. “The plan wipes out countless injured workers’ ability to afford legal help when insurance companies wrongfully deny benefits, without providing other new benefits to offset this added burden,”…
The workers’ compensation fix that emerged from the House Commerce Committee last week was the product of hours — and hours — of testimony, debate, and negotiations. The Insurance and Banking Subcommittee staged marathon hearings in which all the stakeholders — insurers, employers, attorneys, unions, and more — hashed out their differences. Then the Commerce Committee spent another nearly two hours in debate. We caught up with I&B chairman Danny Burgess immediately following the Commerce vote and ducked into a…