Michael Moline, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Michael MolineFebruary 7, 2017

Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier laid out his office’s solution to the insurance assignment-of-benefits problem to Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet Tuesday, and it includes limiting contractors’ ability to recover attorney fees in litigation against insurance companies. Florida’s one-way attorney fee statute is intended to shield policyholders against legal bills if they want to sue their insurers for failure […]

Michael MolineFebruary 7, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott accused House leaders Tuesday of political posturing on Florida’s economic- and tourism-development programs. “It’s pretty clear. If you don’t care about people’s jobs, you must be caring about something else,” Scott told reporters following a Cabinet meeting. “What else can it be? How can anybody say, ‘We don’t want to help a poor family […]

Michael MolineFebruary 7, 2017

The Office of Insurance Regulation and an organization that proposes workers’ compensation premium rates have filed legal briefs refuting arguments that they calculated Florida’s recent 14.5 percent rate hike in violation of the Sunshine Law. James Fee, a Miami workers’ compensation attorney fighting the increase, and a group of press and press-freedom organizations, had argued […]

Michael MolineFebruary 6, 2017

A Senate committee got a preview of what a coordinated statewide campaign against human trafficking might look at Monday, when a prosecutor detailed Miami’s “victim-centered” attack on the scourge. Esther Jacobo, who runs the program for State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, said prosecutors, support staff, victim specialists, and investigators within the office and other Miami-Dade […]

Michael MolineFebruary 3, 2017

A state senator proposing legislation to mitigate flood risk said Friday that lawmakers in Tallahassee don’t fully appreciate the extent of that risk. “I think my colleagues in the Legislature don’t quite understand the gravity of the situation — much like Congress,” said Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican. “They do not understand how serious the […]

Michael MolineFebruary 2, 2017

Florida Supreme Court rulings in workers’ compensation cases will boost employers’ costs by 35.4 percent, adding $1.3 billion to the cost of doing business in the state, an economist warned Thursday during the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Insurance Summit. “This breaks into a $929 million annual increase in premiums for the insured employers and a […]

Michael MolineFebruary 2, 2017

Jeff Atwater delivered some frank advice Thursday when he warned insurers they need to present hard facts to the Legislature before they can expect help in solving problems with the workers’ compensation system and other priorities. Speaking at the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s 2017 Insurance Summit in Miami, the state’s Chief Financial Officer called for “honesty and transparency with an […]

Michael MolineFebruary 2, 2017

With the Legislature poised to confront major challenges to Florida’s insurance industry and the businesses and consumers who rely on it, the Florida Chamber of Commerce will convene in Miami Thursday to map out possible solutions. On the agenda are mandatory personal-injury protection, or PIP, coverage for motorists; abuse of assignment-of-benefits agreements in property insurance; […]

Michael MolineFebruary 1, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott announced 34 grant awards Wednesday to research Zika virus and seek a vaccine. He said the money, from $25 million in state funds Scott earmarked in September, would pay for efforts to develop a vaccine, understand and mitigate Zika’s effects on children, and research testing methods. “While we are currently in winter months […]

Michael MolineJanuary 31, 2017

The Associated Press, Florida Press Association, and Florida First Amendment Foundation have entered the legal battle over whether the state’s Sunshine Law covered the organization behind the state’s workers’ compensation premium increase. In a friend-of-the-court brief, the three accused the National Council on Compensation Insurance, or NCCI, of employing “an evasive device” to get around […]

Michael Moline

Insurance Office going after one-way attorney fees in AOB fight

Rick Scott accuses House leadership of playing politics on economic development

Insurance office, NCCI refute Sunshine Law claims in workers’ comp appeal

Senate panel begins work on human trafficking problem

Jeff Brandes: Legislature needs educating about flood risk

True cost of workers’ compensation rulings pegged at $1.3 billion

Jeff Atwater delivers frank advice at Chamber’s Insurance Summit

Florida Chamber hosting summit in Miami to take on state’s insurance woes

Rick Scott announces grants to research and combat Zika virus

Press organizations file brief in workers’ compensation rate hike appeal