Florida's Latest News

Gov. DeSantis appoints three to Health Care District of Palm Beach County

Gov. Ron DeSantis has filled three commission vacancies for the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, an independent taxing district that provides numerous local health care services.

On Tuesday, DeSantis announced the appointments of Tracy Caruso, Patrick Rooney and Carlos Vidueira to the district’s seven-member Board of Commissioners. Each appointee will take three previously vacant seats the Governor has the sole power to fill.

Caruso serves as Vice Chair of the Palm Beach Housing and Finance Authority, a county agency created in 1979 to help improve the local affordable housing index. In private life, she is the co-founder and President of Delray Beach Executive Suites, a private rental agency.

Rooney, meanwhile, is a former Republican state Representative who served three consecutive terms in Tallahassee through 2016, when he announced he would not seek re-election. He now serves as President of the Palm Beach Kennel Club, a gambling and racing operation in West Palm Beach.

Paul Renner releases House committee assignments for 2023

House Speaker Paul Renner has released committee assignments for the 2023 Regular Session.

The announcement, released Tuesday evening, comes the week before lawmakers return to Tallahassee to begin a Special Session on property insurance and interim meetings ahead of Session.

Renner, a Palm Coast Republican, will preside over House Republicans’ first supermajority since the 2014-16 term.

“To the greatest extent possible, committee preferences were accommodated,” Renner said in a memo to members.

The list includes assignments for nine main committees, 23 subcommittees, five joint committees and the Select Committee on Hurricane Resiliency & Recovery.

Building codes, resiliency get attention as insurance Special Session nears

Building code and resiliency requirements are to construction what traffic, signals and stop signs are to drivers.

Without road rules there’s no safety for drivers, passengers and onlookers. Without modernized building codes, structures — whether palatial private residences, entry level homes or municipal buildings — aren’t as safe from hurricanes as they can be.

“That’s just the bottom line. Codes work,” Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) president and CEO Leslie Chapman-Henderson said Tuesday at the Florida Chamber’s summit, Insuring Florida’s Future.

FLASH focuses its efforts on strengthening homes and safeguarding families from natural and manmade disasters. Chapman-Henderson said the organization, first created in Florida as a working group following Hurricane Andrew, is promoting the adoption of building codes nationally and stressing that increasing safety features doesn’t make the cost of construction out of reach.

Renner, Passidomo tee up major insurance issues for special session

With Florida’s property-insurance system in turmoil, state lawmakers could be poised to take major steps to try to stabilize the market during a special legislative session next week.

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, and House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, released a formal session proclamation Tuesday that indicated lawmakers will consider a series of hot-button insurance issues.

Those issues include trying to curb costs of lawsuits over insurance claims; boosting the availability of critical reinsurance; limiting a long-controversial practice known as assignment of benefits; and bolstering the financial stability of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Detailed bills have not been released for the special session, which will start Monday.

During a news conference last month, Renner said lawmakers will look at a “kitchen sink of options” to try to stabilize the market and expand private coverage. But he also cautioned that whatever changes the Legislature makes during the special session will not lead to immediate rate reductions for consumers.