Legislature: Senate President Atwater and House Speaker Cretul Say a December Special Legislative Session Is Possible as Commuter Rail Negotiations Advance
On November 25, 2009, Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach) and House Speaker Larry Cretul (R-Ocala) notified legislators that a special legislative session was likely, possibly beginning as soon as Thursday, December 3, 2009.
Governor Charlie Crist and legislative leaders had previously said that Florida’s access to federal stimulus funding for passenger rail projects could depend on the state’s willingness to quickly enact legislation expanding passenger rail. The legislation under discussion would be intended to allow the Orlando-area commuter rail plan known as SunRail to move forward and to provide additional funding for the Tri-Rail system in South Florida. Federal officials have informed Florida legislators that the state’s access to stimulus money for a high-speed inter-city rail project may depend on whether the state demonstrates its intent to increase its commitment to passenger rail.
In his memorandum to senators, Sen. Atwater said, “[We] have been working diligently with our partners in the Florida House and the Governor’s Office to develop comprehensive legislation that will establish statewide policy for rail transit. At this time, I am optimistic that we are very close to having legislation that achieves this objective, while addressing concerns raised by Senators regarding liability for freight and passenger rail and a dedicated, sustainable funding source for commuter rail. I am in ongoing conversations with Speaker Cretul and fully anticipate that we will be announcing a Special Session in the next few days.”
Speaker Cretul, in his memo to House members, said, “Constructive conversations in recent days have encouraged the hope that a special session on passenger rail may in fact occur.”
Both the Senate president and the House speaker stated that if they call a December special session, it would probably begin on December 3 and end on or before December 10, allowing legislators to return home before the first day of Hanukkah. Legislators are already scheduled to be at the Capitol for committee meetings during the week of December 7.
The Florida AFL-CIO, which led much of the opposition to SunRail during the 2009 legislative session, announced on November 27, 2009 that it would “aggressively” oppose the legislation in a special session, calling it “government-enabled union busting.” A spokesman for the labor organization said that the SunRail proposal “fails Florida workers by continuing to enable [the Florida Department of Transportation] to have unfettered authority to fire railroad workers subject to federal protections and safeguards and replace them with less qualified, less experienced transit employees not subject to federal railroad protections and safeguards.”
Economy: Florida Unemployment Rises to 11.2 Percent in October 2009
The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI) announced on November 20, 2009 that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October 2009 was 11.2 percent. The October rate was 0.1 percentage point higher than the revised September Florida unemployment rate of 11.1 percent, and 1.0 percentage point higher than the October national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent.
The October rate was the highest since June 1975, when the rate also was 11.2 percent. The last time unemployment was higher than the October 2009 rate was in May 1975, when Florida’s unemployment rate was 11.9 percent.
According to the AWI, the industries that have lost the most jobs in the preceding 12 months are: trade, transportation, and utilities (86,100 jobs); professional and business services (75,100 jobs); and construction (74,100). These three industries account for 69.3 percent of Florida’s job losses since October 2008.
Counties with the lowest unemployment rates were Liberty County (5.4 percent), Monroe County (7.0 percent), Alachua and Leon counties (7.1 percent each), Jackson County (7.2 percent), and Lafayette and Walton counties (7.3 percent each).
Counties with the highest unemployment rates were Flagler County (16.1 percent), Hendry County (15.7 percent), Indian River County (14.9 percent), St. Lucie County (14.7 percent), and Hernando County (13.8 percent).
Insurance: Insurance Commissioner Approves Reduced Rate Increase for Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
On November 20, 2009, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin M. McCarty approved a rate increase for the “high-risk” property insurance policies issued by Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-created property insurer of last resort. Property owners in designated high-risk areas can obtain windstorm-only coverage from Citizens, while obtaining the rest of their insurance coverage from a variety of insurers.
Citizens’ rates had been statutorily frozen at 2005 levels until legislation enacted in 2009 provided what legislators at the time described as a “glide path” toward actuarial soundness. The rate freeze was replaced with a provision that allowed limited rate increases beginning in 2010. The legislation capped both overall rates and rate changes applied to any one policyholder at 10 percent.
The approved rate increases for Citizens’ windstorm-only policies were 5.2 percent for homeowners, 4.0 percent for dwelling fire, 11.0 percent for mobile homeowners (relying on another statutory provision to exceed the 10-percent cap), 9.3 percent for nonresidential commercial property, and 9.4 percent for commercial residential property such as apartment buildings and condominium associations. The approved increase for homeowners’ policies was substantially lower than Citizens’ originally requested increase of 7.5 percent, but the approved increases for other lines were only slightly lower than Citizens’ original rate request.
Citizens had previously received regulatory approval for rate increases for policies that are not limited to windstorm coverage. Rates for full homeowners’ policies will rise by 5.4 percent; other increases include 8.8 percent for dwelling fire, 1.7 percent for mobile homeowners, 2.1 percent for mobile home physical damage, and 10.2 percent for commercial residential property.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is the largest property insurer in Florida, with a 22-percent share of the homeowners insurance market. As of October 31, 2009, Citizens had 1,072,194 policies in force.
Public Policy News Alert is part of our ongoing commitment to providing up-to-the-minute information about pressing concerns or industry issues affecting our clients and our colleagues. If you have any questions about this alert or would like to discuss these topics further, please contact your Foley attorney or any of the following individuals:
Marnie George
Tallahassee, Florida
850.513.3398
[email protected]
Michael P. Harrell
Tallahassee, Florida
850.513.3373
[email protected]
Robert H. Hosay
Tallahassee, Florida
850.513.3382
[email protected]
Jonathan P. Kilman
Orlando, Florida
407.244.3256
[email protected]
Thomas J. Maida
Tallahassee, Florida
850.513.3377
[email protected]
Leonard E. Schulte
Tallahassee, Florida
850.513.3380
[email protected]
Marnie George of The George Group assists Foley on a variety of government and public policy matters as a consultant.
