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Department Home | Agent and Agency Home | Insurance Insights Home Vol. 11, No. 1 - February 2022 |
Welcome
Dear Fellow Floridians:
The 2022 Legislative Session is in full swing and I want to give you some insight into some of our priority bills and how they have progressed through the legislative process.
I'm
very pleased to say that the Florida House of Representatives included our "Home
Hardening" initiative in their tax package this year. This initiative provides
tax relief to homeowners to "harden" their homes from storms by installing
impact-resistant windows, impact-resistant doors, and impact-resistant garage
doors. My mission is to help homeowners strengthen their home while saving on
taxes and insurance premiums.
House
Bill 1115 and Senate
Bill 1054, regarding financial literacy requirements was reported favorable
in the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Rules Committee.
I believe financial literacy is vital to life-long financial stability and this
important proposal will require Florida high school students to earn at least
one-half credit of instruction in financial literacy or money management and
will teach students about banking practices, money management, credit scores,
managing debt, loan applications, insurance policies and local tax
assessments.
Our fire investigators put themselves in harm's way ever day
to protect our communities and we must protect them from job-related
cancers.
House
Bill 557, Fire Investigator Cancer Treatment Benefits, sponsored by
Representative Salzman, was reported favorable in the House Appropriations
Committee. House
Bill 557 adds fire investigators to the existing firefighter cancer
coverage. The bill moves next to the House Commerce Committee.
I've also
made it my mission every year to fight fraud in our state and House
Bill 749 does just that. Sponsored by Representative Clemons, HB749 was recently reported favorable in the House State Administration &
Technology Appropriations Subcommittee. This proposal increases penalties on
unlicensed public adjusters who break the law; will combat fraudulent
telemarketing calls by requiring licensed warranty agencies to identity their
full business name an license number immediately; will force big corporations to
allow Floridians to easily cancel subscriptions without forcing consumers to hop
through a bunch of hoops; and will empower Florida policyholders by ensuring
digital insurance applications will communicate with the digital driver's
license. The bill moves next to the House Commerce Committee.
These are
just a few of the great initiatives we put forth this legislative session to
support our first responders, fight fraud, and enhance the services provided by
the Department of Financial Services. For more updates, please visit our DFS News homepage.
Sincerely,
Jimmy Patronis
Chief Financial Officer
State of Florida
