NRRA Advocacy Trip to Florida Results in the Filing of Senate Bill 836

Following NRRA’s meetings in Tallahassee last week, Florida Senator Nick DiCeglie promptly filed NRRA’s “Option 1” bill—Senate Bill 836—which clarifies that risk retention groups registered to do business in Florida are insurance companies authorized to do business in the state.

This clarification aims to prevent the misapplication of Florida’s definition of “authorized insurers” as only those licensed and admitted in-state. While RRGs are not “authorized insurers” under that statute, they are licensed in their domiciliary states and are authorized to do business in Florida under both the Liability Risk Retention Act and Florida’s own RRG statutes.

In 2023, a Florida Senate bill proposed requiring RRGs writing commercial auto liability to hold an A.M. Best “A” rating and maintain a minimum capital surplus of $100 million—changes that would have severely impacted trucking and transportation RRGs and left thousands of RRG owner-insureds to lose their coverage in Florida. NRRA launched an immediate advocacy effort, and the bill was ultimately defeated.

In 2024, a revised NRRA-authored bill was enacted, removing the rating and capital requirements for RRGs and clarifying that RRGs are insurance companies authorized to provide commercial auto liability coverage to their members in Florida. Senate Bill 836 is intended to serve as a companion bill, further clarifying that all 150 RRGs registered in Florida are authorized to conduct insurance business in the state.

During the December 9 advocacy trip, NRRA held seven meetings, primarily with House members, to continue educating policymakers about RRGs ahead of the legislative session beginning on or around January 15.

For additional background, we encourage members to review NRRA’s prior articles detailing these developments in Florida.