2023 Florida Legislative Session Ends With No Vote Taken On H57/SB516
While the Bill successfully came out of every committee, including final passage by the House of Representatives, the legislative session ended as scheduled on Friday, May 5, 2023 with no action taken on Senate Bill 516.
Do not assume, however, that rigor mortis will be setting in anytime soon! This is no time for celebration, because discussion of resurrection of the bill is already underway.
As we commence this process, we want to thank all of our dedicated members of NRRA for their positive contributions to our campaign so far, and also thank Paul Handerhan of the Federal Association for Insurance Reform (FAIR) for his/its proactive support of NRRA in our opposition to the Bill.
We are now proceeding into “Phase 2” of our fundraising campaign to reach out and eliminate discriminatory conduct directed at risk retention groups, not just in Florida, but wherever else they may appear. This is now our opportunity to move forward with that concept.
NRRA’s next strategy will be twofold:
First, to begin a vigorous campaign to educate regulators and legislators regarding the obviously negative “spin” suggesting financial unreliability regarding risk retention groups which appears in the ubiquitous “pop-up” that appears every time someone researches any risk retention group through the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR.)
Second, we plan to begin immediate discussions with those entities and associations which have been detrimentally affected by the pop-up, which was the motivation for the Bill to begin with, to begin discussions on a suitable endeavor, using means at our disposal, to overcome the negative influence and express assertion that risk retention groups are not “authorized” insurance companies in Florida.
This false notion is perpetuated by the common misconception created when the word “authorized” is improperly limited to mean companies which are “licensed and admitted” in the state. Of course, risk retention groups remain licensed and admitted in their states of domicile. “Authorization” is therefore automatic in all states under the federal LRRA, which the majority of state and federal courts have held absolutely preempts the use of state laws to interfere with the ability of RRGs to operate in any non-domiciliary states.
We will have more to report to you after we regroup with all of our very important participants in this endeavor to better focus on the upcoming strategy. In the meanwhile, now is the time to continue building our war chest of your donations in accordance with “Phase 2” of our campaign, which can be visualized via this link on our website.
More on Florida Bill 516
For more information, read a summary and analysis of Florida Bill 516 by the Risk Retention Reporter.
For inquiries, contact:
Joseph E. Deems, NRRA Executive Director
16133 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1055, Encino, CA 91436, U.S.A.
(818) 995-3274 | joe@riskretention.org