SB 150-Relating to Motor Vehicle Insurance

On Wednesday, February 28th, SB 150 by Senator Tom Lee (R-Brandon) was heard before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services and ultimately temporarily postponed. AIF’s Senior Vice President of State and Federal Affairs, Brewster Bevis, stood in opposition to the bill.

This legislation repeals the Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law (No-Fault Law), which requires every owner and registrant of a motor vehicle in this state to maintain $10,000 Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. The bill enacts financial responsibility requirements for damages for liability that results from accidents arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle in the amount of: 

• Beginning January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2020, $20,000 for bodily injury (BI) or death of one person in any one crash, and subject to that limit for one person, $40,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more people in any one crash.
• Beginning January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2022, $25,000 for bodily injury or death of one person in any one crash, and subject to that limit for one person, $50,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more people in any one crash.
• Beginning January 1, 2023, and thereafter $30,000 for bodily injury or death of one person in any one crash, and subject to that limit for one person, $60,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more people in any one crash.
  
  

The bill retains the $10,000 financial responsibility requirement for property damage and replaces the PIP coverage mandate with a medical payment (Med Pay) coverage mandate of $5,000.

During the committee hearing, a plethora of amendments were heard. Some amendments offered aimed to increase the Med Pay coverage to $15,000 while others aimed to remove the Med Pay component all together. Ultimately, the only amendment that passed was offered by the bill sponsor and added in an appropriation provision to account for repealing the No-Fault Law and switching to a tort system. 

At the end of the committee meeting a vote was taken and the bill failed by a 1-6 vote. The Chair  motioned to reconsider the bill and then subsequently temporarily postponed the bill which retains SB 150 on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services calendar.

AIF opposes this legislation that would result in the repeal of PIP without a more comprehensive and thoughtful replacement.