Florida’s Senate late Wednesday refused to go along with a prevailing-party attorney-fee amendment to a phosphate mine bill, likely leaving it dead for 2025 as the legislative session nears the end.
The amendment to Senate Bill 832, approved by the state House of Representatives last week, threatened to undo the vaunted 2022 and 2023 laws that ended one-way attorney fees in insurance claims disputes, insurance leaders have said. Industry experts and regulators have blamed the previous fee allowances for fueling thousands of unnecessary claims lawsuits and raising costs for carriers.
After the House on Friday added the amendment to a bill that would provide a legal defense on the sale of former phosphate mining land, some in the insurance arena sounded the alarm.
Senators noted those concerns, declined to concur with the and formally asked the House to “recede.” The phosphate mine bill now goes back to the House for further consideration.
Although the 2025 legislative session was originally set to end Friday, May 2, it may be extended to allow House and Senate members to overcome big differences in state budget bills. But even if the session is extended, it’s doubtful that the attorney-fee allowance will be revived, Tallahassee insiders said.
Meanwhile, a bill that would give condominium owners and associations a little relief on the cost of keeping structures safe passed both chambers Wednesday.
House , if signed into law, will allow condo associations to obtain lines of credit and invest funds that will help pay for repairs – instead of having to immediately raise fees on owners. The Senate voted 37-0 in favor of the revised bill. The House then concurred and approved the measure 112-0.
“Without moving one step backwards on safety, this bill provides options, flexibility, and relief so condo owners and associations can prioritize the most important repairs first, including safety issues identified during milestone inspections,” Sen. Jennifer Bradley, who shepherded the bill through the process, said in a late Wednesday.
The final version of the bill can be seen here.
Another bill that has raised worries in the insurance industry – to dissolve the Florida Board of Professional Engineers and other governing boards – has seen little action since it passed a House subcommittee in mid-April.
HB 1461, now in the House Commerce Committee, would move the jobs of multiple professional boards and commissions to the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Critics have said the DBPR does not have the staff or expertise to oversee professions such as engineers.
That could give unscrupulous actors free reign to offer questionable damage reports and testimony in insurance claims disputes, some engineers and lawmakers have warned.
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