House OKs chimera bill on tort rules, phosphate disclosure that critics warn will hike insurance rates

Ignoring admonition that it runs afoul of the chamber’s rules, House lawmakers have approved legislation combining parts from two unrelated bills into a single package that critics complain will lead to higher insurance rates.

Members of the House voted 80-20 for SB 832, which until Friday only contained language to protect the owners of former phosphate mining land against lawsuits over residual radiation on the property.

Sarasota Republican Rep. Berny Jacques substituted the bill for a House measure (HB 947) he sponsored with Miami Rep. Omar Blanco, a fellow Republican, that was originally designed to allow more evidence in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.

After substituting in SB 832, which Zephyrhills Republican Sen. Danny Burgess carried to passage in the upper chamber, Jacques then amended it so that it applied some of the language from HB 947.

The result was something of a chimera, a product of substantively different material fused together that Taryn Fenske, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ former Communications Director, decried on X as guaranteed to “raise your insurance rates & make YOU pay MORE.”

SB 832, which must now clear another Senate floor vote before heading to DeSantis’ desk, establishes a defense for landowners against liability for having radioactive phosphate byproducts on site. They would only have to provide notice to the county where the parcel is located that the property was once a phosphate mine, plus have proof that the Department of Health conducted a gamma radiation survey there.

The bill would also expand what evidence is admissible in health insurance lawsuits and establish a “loser pays’ system in which the winners of such cases can recover their attorneys fees.

St. Petersburg Democratic Rep. Lindsay Cross proffered an amendment to the bill that would require landowners to explicitly inform prospective buyers or occupants of the property that it used to be a phosphate mine. That, she said, would put the onus on the seller or landlord rather than the buyer or renter, similar to what is required in sales of flood-prone properties.

Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Boca Raton Democrat, called Cross’ proposal an “excellent amendment” that followed SB 832’s intention “but in a more consumer-friendly way.”

Orlando Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani agreed, noting that the “everyday Floridian” doesn’t typically search through public records to see if an apartment they’re thinking of moving into was built on a former phosphate mine. “Unless there is a more accessible way to show that information and make folks aware,” she said, “I am concerned that we’re taking advantage of this situation.”

Jacques called the amendment “well-intended” but “unfriendly at this stage” because changing the bill further would be “very burdensome.” He asked House members to vote against the amendment, and most did.

Davie Democratic Rep. Mike Gottlieb contended that SB 832 and HB 947 were too different to rightly combine and be considered, citing portions of House Rule 12.8 that provide amendments are not germane if they unreasonably alter a bill’s nature.

Amending a bill that would affect lawsuits over former phosphate mines with language concerning medical insurance disputes “strains language beyond reason,” Gottlieb said. “They are not related for the purpose of the underlying bill.”

Rep. Sam Garrison, a Fleming Island Republican on track to become House Speaker in 2028, disputed Gottlieb’s assertion. He argued that SB 832 was substituted for a “reasonably related companion,” pursuant to House Rule 5.17, and could then be amended as a vehicle for the bill (HB 947) it replaced.

Garrison said the House was “decidedly more ambitious” than the Senate with the legislation, but that the phosphate mining portion was added to HB 947 and duly considered during the lower chamber’s committee process.

HB 947 was cleared for a floor vote on March 26 after advancing through the House Civil Justice Subcommittee and Judiciary Committee without any of the phosphate language. It was then sent back to the Judiciary Committee, where Frostproof Republican Rep. Jon Albert successfully amended it to include language from his phosphate-focused bill (HB 585) that had stalled out in its last committee stop.

Garrison recommended Gottlieb’s argument be “not well-taken.” House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan, who oversaw Friday’s floor proceedings, concurred.

Phosphate rock mining is the fifth-largest mining industry in the United States and the No. 1 such industry in Florida, where there are 28 phosphate mines covering more than 450,000 acres, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Mining for phosphate, a vital ingredient in fertilizer, can pose radiation risks due to the naturally occurring elements in the process — including uranium, thorium and radium — which in decay produce a radioactive gas called radon.

Exposure to radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States after cigarette smoke, according to the American Cancer Society. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says radon in drinking water can also contribute to the development of a variety of internal organ cancers.

But after Cross’ amendment was shot down and Gottlieb’s objection to the altered bill was similarly rejected, the remaining conversation centered not on the relatively weak disclosure requirements for possible radon exposure but on the potential impact on health insurance costs.

During HB 947’s initial trip through the committee process, numerous representatives from health care and insurance companies warned that the bill would undo “good progress” made through a sweeping tort reform bill DeSantis signed in 2023. That bill, among other things, eliminated a long-standing statute that allowed policyholders who successfully sued their insurers to recoup their attorneys fees and limited a negligence standard so fewer plaintiffs could recover damages.

Delray Beach Republican Rep. Mike Caruso warned Friday that HB 947 will again send insurance rates soaring. “Why the hell would any of you vote for it?” he asked.

He voted against the measure alongside fellow Republican Reps. Shane Abbott, Doug Bankson, Ryan Chamberlin, Linda Chaney, Tom Fabricio, Anne Gerwig, J.J. Grow, Chad Johnson, Chip LaMarca, Lauren Melo, Jim Mooney, Toby Overdorf, Rachel Plakon, Alex Rizo, David Smith, Kevin Steele and John Temple. Democratic Reps. Jose Alvarez and Bruce Antone also voted “no.”

Blanco and Jacques pushed back against the notion that their legislation would hurt Floridians’ pocketbooks.

“It really uplifts ordinary Floridians to be on an equal footing situation with large corporations in our state,” Jacques said.

Blanco said the 2023 law (HB 837) was meant to bring clarity and balance to disputes between insurers and their policyholders, but the statutory framework it established has instead become a “barrier of justice.”

“Courts are interpreting it so strictly that they’re excluding evidence outright, even basic, reasonable, relevant evidence because it does not meet the narrow, rigid formula,” he said. “That’s not clarity; that’s confusion. That’s not transparency; it’s exclusion. This isn’t about inflating awards; it’s about restoring the right to present your case, plain and simple.”

Gottlieb said that despite his objection to combining the bills, he liked aspects of the final legislation, particularly its language allowing evidence of reasonable and customary insurance rates as admissible in cases about medical charges.

“Lady Justice demands that the scales tip one way or the other, but only after everybody has the opportunity to offer all the evidence that they want to see and hear,” he said. “That’s what’s fair, and that’s what this bill does.”

Linking SB 832 and HB 947 may enable the language of both measures to pass where neither would have if still dependent on the bills with which they were first linked. SB 832 was originally linked to HB 585, which failed to reach the House floor. HB 947, meanwhile, originally had language identical to SB 1520, a bill sponsored by Fort Pierce Republican Sen. Erin Grall that never received a committee hearing.