The Florida Senate's Committee on Banking and Insurance has released a study documenting the application of the Florida Antitrust Act to the business of insurance.

The Florida Antitrust Act (Act) under chapter 542, F.S., complements the body of federal antitrust law by prohibiting restraints of trade or commerce such as price discrimination, price fixing and monopolies. A central provision of the Act has the effect of exempting the "business of insurance" from state antitrust laws by providing that any activity or conduct exempt under Florida statutory or common law or exempt from federal antitrust laws is exempt from the Act's provisions.

Currently, the federal McCarran-Ferguson Act (McCarran) exempts from the federal Sherman, Clayton, and Federal Trade Commission acts conduct that: (1) constitutes the business of insurance; (2) is regulated by state law; and (3) is not an agreement to boycott, coerce, or intimidate. The intent is to reserve regulation of insurance companies to the states and to allow insurers to exchange data regarding losses and other factors for the purposes of rate making and for the joint development of policy forms.

According to information obtained from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 26 states do not exempt the business of insurance from their state antitrust laws. The objective of this report is to evaluate the effects of applying the Florida Antitrust Act to the business of insurance and to provide options for applying the Act to the business of insurance.

To download a PDF copy of this study, please select:
Interim Report 2009-104

FSLSO will be migrating to a new internal accounting software beginning November 3, 2008. As such, the following are changes that you should be aware of:

1) If you receive your invoices via email, all invoices will be emailed to the billing contact person that FSLSO has on file. Emailed invoivces include the monthly FSLSO service fee invoice, as well as the quarterly invoices for DFS taxes, FHCF assessments, Citizen's assessments, and DCA EMPA surcharges. The invoices will no longer be emailed to the submission contact person as previously done, but to the billing contact.

2) Each agent will receive a notification in their SLIP inbox that the invoice(s) have been issued and forwarded to the billing contact person.

3) The customer ID numbers for each agent will be different than on previous invoices due to the new accounting software.

If you have any questions or concerns about any of these changes, please email Sheila Pearson (spearson@fslso.com) or Jennifer Mills (jmills@fslso.com).

Have you filed your Quarterly Report Affidavit for the third quarter?

The third quarter of 2008 ended on September 30 which means your Quarterly Report Affidavit is due by October 31. As of today, more than 450 agent affidavits have not been filed - are you one of the 450?

Filing your Quarterly Report Affidavit is easier than ever as we have made it available electronically through SLIP. It’s simple, quick, and efficient! This electronic affidavit does not need to be notarized or mailed to us.

If you choose not to submit it electronically, you may continue to download a copy of the affidavit from the FSLSO website at:
http://www.fslso.com/publications/forms/index.aspx

Please note, however, paper copies must be filled out, notarized and mailed to:

Florida Surplus Lines Service Office
1441 Maclay Commerce Dr.
Suite 200
Tallahassee, FL 32312

Should you need assistance, please contact Lisa French at 800-562-4496, ext. 106.

FSLSO will be coming to the Pensacola, FL area in November to teach its current classroom education offering, "Do You Know the Code: Florida's Surplus Lines Law and Mitigation."

"Do You Know the Code" provides students with a detailed review of Florida's surplus lines law relative to agent responsibilities, surplus lines filing requirements, and the Rules of Practice. This course also incorporates a one-hour segment on available premium discounts on property insurance policies based on various hurricane mitigation options.

This course has been approved by the Department of Financial Services for three-hours of intermediate property and casualty credit and one-hour of mitigation options/premium discount credit.  Course ID: 60445.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Hampton Inn - Pensacola Airport
2187 Airport Blvd.
Pensacola, FL

Class registration will open at 8:00 a.m. with class starting at 9:00 a.m. and lasting until 1:00 p.m. This course is free for all Florida-licensed surplus lines agents who may also bring up to two members of their staff at no charge. All others must pay a nominal fee of $60.

Early registration is encouraged as classes do fill up quickly. You may register online by visiting http://www.fslso.com/education/index.aspx

For additional information, please contact Ashlee Weber at (800) 562-4496 x 109.