Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Michael MolineMay 9, 2017

A state appeals court has upheld a 14.5 percent increase in workers’ compensation insurance premiums, rejecting legal arguments that it was approved in violation of Florida’s open-government laws. “This argument ignores the plain language of the statute and the ordinary meaning of the terms within it,” a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of […]

Michael MolineMay 3, 2017

It’s not the big banana, but a small piece of workers’ compensation reform is on its way to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk. The bill is CS/CS/HB 1107, shielding personally identifying information about workers’ comp claimants under Florida’s public records laws. It passed the House on a 120-0 vote Wednesday, having cleared the Senate, 37-0, on […]

Guest AuthorApril 27, 2017

With the House version of workers’ compensation reform, our state legislators are dangerously close to repeating the mistakes of the past. We cannot have a lopsided system that creates a chasm between the army of lawyers and executives who represent workers’ comp insurance companies and the injured worker who needs a competent lawyer to fight […]

Michael MolineApril 3, 2017

The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted 7-1 Monday to approve legislation that would require workers’ compensation carriers to compete on price rather than propose premium levels through a common ratings agency, and that would allow workers to pay attorneys hourly rates if they take insurers to court. The ‘No” vote was by Sen. George Gainer, […]

Michael MolineMarch 6, 2017

The National Council on Compensation Insurance will take no position on a Senate bill that would require workers’ compensation carriers to propose their own rates to the Office of Insurance Regulation. “We don’t have an opinion in it. We operate in both environments,” Susan Donegan, chief regulatory services officer for NCCI, said in a telephone interview Monday. […]

Michael MolineFebruary 8, 2017

The chairman of a key House subcommittee said Wednesday that legislation to address rising worker’s compensation premiums will include curbs on attorney fees, “the biggest driver of the premiums.” Danny Burgess, chairman of the Insurance & Banking Subcommittee, spoke following a hearing into a raft of possible solutions to escalating worker’s compensation premiums. Also on […]

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 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 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 MolineJanuary 27, 2017

The group behind a 14.5 percent workers’ compensation premium can’t get around Florida’s Sunshine Law by arguing that a single individual worked on the matter, and not a full-fledged internal committee, an appellate brief argues. The law holds that meetings by such committees at rating organizations like the National Council on Compensation Insurance, or NCCI, […]

Tag: National Council on Compensation Insurance

State appeals court upholds 14.5 percent workers’ comp premium increase

One element of the workers’ compensation fix headed to the governor

Mike Williams: Meaningful workers’ comp reform must protect Florida’s workers

Senate panel OKs workers’ comp bill opposed by insurance industry

With role on the line, NCCI insists: We’re not ‘an evil empire unto itself’

House panel homes in on attorney fees for workers’ compensation fix

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

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

Press organizations file brief in workers’ compensation rate hike appeal

NCCI, state insurance office can’t evade Sunshine Law, brief argues