A new year brought new laws in Florida. Legislation approved by state officials in the House and Senate in 2022, and taking effect in 2023, aim to keep some more money in motorists’ pockets. Other laws seek to cure issues related to workers at apartment complexes and rising insurance costs.
ASSIGNMENT OF BENEFITS FOR PROPERTY INSURANCE
State legislators were called back twice for special sessions to confront Florida’s property insurance industry problems. Bills addressed a number of issues, which included ending the ability for homeowners to sign over their claims to contractors who pursue payments from insurers. An analysis for Senate Bill 2-A stated that insurers complained about contractors who had property owners sign over their benefits and submitted bills to insurance companies for repair work that, on average, were 30% higher than estimates from vendors without an assignment of benefits. With vendors seeking to extract higher settlements from insurers came more litigation over the vendors’ invoices. Backers of the property insurance bill hammered a statistic that, with roughly 7% of nationwide claims, 76% of homeowners’ lawsuits in the U.S. were filed in Florida.
HIGHWAY TOLL RELIEF
Florida motorists who frequently pass through toll facilities will see some relief, per Senate Bill 6-A. A vehicle with a SunPass tag that records 35 or more transactions per month will be eligible for a 50% credit. State toll facilities include Florida’s Turnpike, which many Upper Keys residents use to drive to airports, stores and hospitals. It also includes the Card Sound Bridge toll that’s used by many workers who live outside the Keys. The state provided $500 million for the program, which goes through Dec. 31, 2023.
BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR APARTMENT WORKERS
Better known as “Miya’s Law,” apartment complexes must now run background checks on prospective custodians, repairmen and other employees before they’re hired. Applicants found guilty or who plead no contest to certain offenses, including violence and disregard for safety, wouldn’t be allowed to work at the facility. Approval of Senate Bill 898 stems from a Sept. 24, 2021 incident involving Valencia College student Miya Marcano. She went missing from her Orlando apartment where she also worked at the front office. She was later found dead miles from her apartment. Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigators said Marcano was taken from her apartment by Armando Caballero, who was a maintenance worker at the same apartment complex. It’s alleged that he had a master key fob for the complex, which allowed him to enter her apartment. Caballero was found dead by apparent suicide days after Marcano went missing.
Legislation also changed the time a landlord must give a tenant some kind of notice to conduct repair work, from 12 hours to 24 hours. And apartments must all maintain a log book for issuance of dwelling unit keys.
NEWBORN SCREENINGS
Hospitals and other state-licensed birthing facilities must now test newborns for congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV), should the infant fail a screening for hearing loss before the newborn is 21 days old. For babies born at home or in a licensed birth center, the bill requires the newborn’s primary health care provider to refer the infant for a CMV test seven days after birth if he or she fails a hearing test. Cytomegalovirus is a common virus for people of all ages; however, a healthy person’s immune system usually keeps the virus from causing illness. In the United States, nearly one in three children are already infected with CMV by age 5. Some babies with congenital CMV infection have health problems that are apparent at birth or that develop later during infancy or childhood. In the most severe cases, CMV can cause the death of an unborn baby (pregnancy loss).
LEGAL NOTICES
House Bill 7049 gives governments the choice to publish legal notices on a publicly accessible website of a county instead of a print newspaper under specified conditions. However, local governments with fewer than 160,000 people must hold a public hearing to determine whether its residents have sufficient access to the internet before going fully electronic. In November, Monroe County commissioners and County Attorney Bob Shillinger discussed whether it should make the move. Commissioners were open to the idea, but nothing has been locally approved yet.
PUBLIC OFFICERS & LOBBYING
Public officials won’t be able to lobby during office and six years after leaving office. The amendment to the state constitution was approved by Florida voters in 2018. It took effect Dec. 31, 2022 and affected a number of elected officials across the state. Elected officials in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach filed a lawsuit in an effort to temporarily block the new law, according to the Miami Herald. That request was denied, but arguments are expected to be heard Jan. 27.
SCHOOL BOOK SELECTIONSHouse Bill 1467 increases the transparency and accountability for selecting and using instructional materials and library materials in schools. It forces certain school district instructional material review committee meetings to be noticed and open to the public. It also mandates school district personnel who are involved in reviewing and selecting certain instructional materials and library materials to complete training developed by the Department of Education on selecting quality, age-appropriate books, prior to making selections.
