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One element of the workers’ compensation fix headed to the governor

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It’s not the big banana, but a small piece of workers’ compensation reform is on its way to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk. The bill is CS/CS/HB 1107, shielding personally identifying information about workers’ comp claimants under Florida’s public records laws. It passed the House on a 120-0 vote Wednesday, having cleared the Senate, 37-0, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the big workers’ compensation package remained on the Senate calendar, awaiting debate. The House has passed its version of that legislation. The information…

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Must-pass workers’ compensation, AOB reform languishing in Legislature

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With House and Senate leaders caught up with budget negotiations ahead of Friday’s deadline for adjournment, advocates for legislative fixes for assignment of benefits and workers’ compensation reform confronted this possibility: Their must-pass legislation might not pass. There’s a workers’ compensation bill on the Senate calendar, but it differs in significant respects from the version the House adopted, and it was unclear whether those differences could be reconciled in the time left. Meanwhile, the House has adopted assignment of benefits,…

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Senate workers’ comp sponsor open to compromise as bill heads to floor

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The Senate’s workers’ compensation package passed its final committee test Wednesday, as its sponsor expressed willingness to compromise with the House over conflicting language on attorney fees and medical payments. “I do think that we can land in a place where, when they score the final product, it will show more rate reduction than they’re scoring the Senate product at this time,” Sen. Jeff Bradley told members of the Rules Committee. “I understand there are a lot of moving parts…

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Florida House OKs legislation targeting soaring worker’s compensation premiums

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The Florida House approved a workers’ compensation fix Tuesday intended to answer the Florida Supreme Court’s objections to the system by adding flexibility on attorney fees in benefits challenges, and by boosting benefits for injured workers. The measure, HB 7085, passed on a vote of 82-37, shortly before the Senate bill cleared the Rules Committee. Danny Burgess, whose Insurance & Banking Subcommittee pulled together the various interests in hours of hearings on the bill, conceded, “This product is not perfect.”…

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House workers’ compensation bill survives Democratic floor amendments

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The House defeated a series of Democratic amendments to its version of a workers’ compensation fix Tuesday, with sponsor Danny Burgess promising the bill would “enhance the fairness and the balance of the workers’ compensation system in Florida.” Burgess, whose Insurance & Banking Subcommittee drafted the legislation, also predicted a decline in premiums, following the 14.5 percent rate increase that began taking effect in December. “We are told it could be up to a 5 percent reduction,” he said. Still,…

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Senate workers’ compensation bill acquires firefighter cancer amendment

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The Senate’s workers’ compensation bill moved out of the Appropriations Committee Thursday after picking up an amendment declaring two forms of cancer occupational hazards for Florida’s 40,000 firefighters. The amendment — sponsored by Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala and vice chairwoman Anitere Flores, and not by bill sponsor Rob Bradley — names multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recognized a higher risk of those cancers among firefighters, Latvala said. Sen. Jeff Brandes objected that…

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Florida Justice Association denounces House workers’ comp package

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Trial attorneys issued a denunciation Monday of the workers’ compensation reform package now headed for a House floor vote. HB 7085 is “a handout to the insurance industry and its big-business allies – one that does little to benefit injured workers or most employers,” the Florida Justice Association said in a written statement. “The plan wipes out countless injured workers’ ability to afford legal help when insurance companies wrongfully deny benefits, without providing other new benefits to offset this added burden,”…

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