Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 12.2.21

By Peter Schorsch

Good Thursday morning.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce’s 14th Insurance Summit kicks off today, bringing together insurance policy experts from across the nation and a handful of other countries in Tampa to discuss ways to “insure Florida’s future” — pun intended.

The Summit begins with a table-setter talk from Florida Chamber President and CEO Mark Wilson titled “Planning for Florida’s Insurance Future,” followed by Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who will detail the current state of Florida’s insurance industry.

A slew of speakers will follow, delivering presentations and participating in panel discussions on all aspects of the broad insurance market.

One particularly timely segment will delve into how insurers and other stakeholders have responded to events such as the Surfside condo collapse.

It will feature Joy Ryan, a shareholder at top insurance lobbying firm Meenan PA, moderating a panel including Florida Building Commission Chair James Schock, Citizens Property Insurance COO Kelly Booten, Carlton Fields Of Counsel Bill Sklar, USI Insurance Services Senior Vice President Adam Lopatin.

Property insurance, in particular, has been a pressing issue in Florida. Rates are rising year after year, and lawmakers have attempted to steady them with bills to curb litigation. Citizens Communications Chief Christine Ashburn will expound on how the litigation landscape impacts the state in a conversation with the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida President Michael Carlson.

On Friday, attendees will get a historical perspective on how the Legislature has responded to challenges facing the market from a set of former lawmakers who chaired the major insurance policy committees — former Sen. Garrett Richter and former Reps. Dennis Ross and Bryan Nelson.

Former Insurance Commissioners Kevin McCarty and Tom Gallagher will join them on a panel moderated by lobbyist Tim Meenan.

A full agenda for the Insurance Summit is available online.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@ShearM: Hours after he received the call from (Mark) Meadows informing him of a positive test, (Donald) Trump came to the back of AF1 without a mask and talked with reporters for about 10 minutes. I was wearing a mask, but still got COVID, testing positive several days later.

—@DonWinslow: Seeing some people tweeting today about how awful the Mississippi/Roe v. Wade situation is who in 2015/16 and 2018/2020 were tweeting “stop being an alarmist,” “Stop being a defeatist,” “he’s just too negative” You think this is bad. Real horror is Nov. 22.

—@ProfMMurray: Y’all. Justice (Sonia) Sotomayor can count votes. She knows where this is headed … either viability is gone or Roe is gone. Her questions are for the public … to let us know that abortion isn’t the end. It’s just beginning of the unraveling of these other rights of intimate life.

—@LoriBerman: While the Supreme Court is being asked to overturn a watershed decision and 50 years of court precedent, Representative @BenDiamondFL and I are fighting to protect women and codify reproductive health care in Florida.

—@DrTomFrieden: Freedom includes the freedom not to be harmed avoidably by others’ choices. Vaccine mandates for health care workers and others, indoor mask mandates where COVID is spreading, and better protection of health care workers are ethically required.

—@DaveWeigel: Inflation is real, gas prices are up, but there’s definitely been a lot of hyperventilating warnings about problems that don’t materialize. (I did Black Friday shopping as usual, in Delaware, and not an empty shelf in sight)

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet: