FUCK YOU FLORIDA! YOU REALLY ARE A SHITHOLE STATE!

Either they're a platform and enjoy "utility" tax and regulatory status... or they're a content creator even if by manipulation. They can maintain the former by simply opening up the process to ensure a fair consistent standard.

Sounds terrible... I know.

When I was a kid, Jackie Gleason called it the Sun and Fun Capitol of the World. Now it's the

                               GUN and FUN CAPITOL OF THE WORLD.

Floridatexan wrote:

Tumors need to be cut out.

Disney just won an Oscar. Let Fatboy DeSantis shove that up his flabby ass.

What The Fu@k means ...Welcome To Florida.

Florida lawmakers OK property insurance changes with no help for homeowners
by Associated PressWednesday, December 14th 2022


At center, Rep. Bob Rommel, R-Naples kisses Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City after his SB 2-A Property Insurance bill he co-sponsored passed 84-33 Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022 in the House of Representatives in Tallahassee, Fla. At left is Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka; at right is House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. Florida lawmakers are meeting to consider ways to shore up the state's struggling home insurance market in the year's second special session devoted to the topic. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida lawmakers are trying to fix in three days a home insurance problem that’s been stormy for three decades, approving legislation designed more to keep private insurers in the state than to immediately save property owners money.

A massive bill seeking a $1 billion reinsurance fund, reduced litigation costs and to force some customers to leave a state-created insurer passed the Florida House 84-33 on Wednesday, a day after it passed the Senate in a special session.

The bill next goes to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for his expected signature.

“We can’t stop the weather, but we can address the cost of reinsurance, we can stop the fraud, we can tighten up the regulations, and we can address court decisions,” said Republican Rep. Tom Leek, the House bill sponsor. “The first thing that we have to do is we have to stop frivolous litigation.”

Florida has struggled to maintain stability in the state insurance market since 1992 when Hurricane Andrew flattened Homestead, wiped out some insurance carriers and left many remaining companies fearful to write or renew policies in Florida. Risks for carriers have also been growing as climate change increases the strength of hurricanes and the intensity of rainstorms.

Earlier this year, Florida homeowners already were struggling to replace dropped policies or pay premiums, with a swelling number of them relying on the state-created insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Co.

Erik Paul, a tech industry worker in Orlando, said that over the summer his insurer notified him that the annual cost of insurance on his 1,200-square-foot (110-square-meter) house was going from $1,700 to $8,000. He found coverage for more than $5,000 a year from another carrier, but he says he got a letter in October saying his rate was going up another $111 annually with little explanation.

While Paul thinks some provisions in the legislation considered are a good step, he isn’t optimistic it will fully resolve the issue.

“Rates keep going up year after year, regardless of whether there are hurricanes,” Paul said.

The Legislature had held a special session in May hoping to slow the crisis. Then Hurricane Ian smashed through southwest Florida in September, causing an estimated $40 billion to $70 billion in property damage.

Leek believes the changes under the legislation will bring more carriers to the Florida market, eventually sparking the competition that will lower rates. “I think that that can happen in short order, but you can’t say for certainty when it’s going to happen,” he said.

Democratic Rep. Dotie Joseph proposed an amendment freezing property insurance rates for one year, saying the legislation as it stands does virtually nothing to provide immediate help for people facing huge rate increases.

“We have the money,” Joseph said. “I’m not saying don’t help the insurance companies. But can we do something for the people of Florida too?”

The amendment failed on an 84-32 vote.

The bill also would force insurers to respond more promptly to claims and increase state oversight of insurers’ conduct following hurricanes.

Average annual premiums have risen to more than $4,200 in Florida, which is triple the national average. About 12% of homeowners in the state don’t have property insurance, compared to the national average of 5%, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a research organization funded by the insurance industry.

The insurance industry has seen two straight years of net underwriting losses exceeding $1 billion in Florida. Six insurers have gone insolvent this year, while others are leaving the state.

The insurance industry says litigation is partly to blame. Loopholes in Florida law, including fee multipliers that allow attorneys to collect higher fees for property insurance cases, have made Florida an excessively litigious state, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute has said.

The legislation would remove “one-way” attorney fees for property insurance, which require property insurers to pay the attorney fees of policyholders who successfully sue over claims, while shielding policyholders from paying insurers’ attorney fees when they lose.

Attorneys groups have argued that the insurance industry is at fault for refusing to pay out claims and that policyholders sue as a last resort. The alternative, arbitration, tilts in favor of insurance companies, they say.

The bill would provide $1 billion in taxpayer funds for a program to provide carriers with hurricane reinsurance, which is coverage bought to help ensure they can pay out claims. It would offer “reasonable” rates in a market where companies have complained about rising costs.

The proposal will also speed up the claims process and eliminate the state’s assignment of benefits laws, in which property owners sign over their claims to contractors who then handle proceedings with insurance companies.

The bill would force people with Citizens policies to pay for flood insurance and require moves to private insurers if they offer a policy up to 20% more expensive than Citizens. Citizens topped 1 million policyholders for the first time in a decade.

Lawmakers this week are also expected to pass separate bills that would provide property tax relief to people whose homes and business were made uninhabitable by Ian and give 50% refunds to commuters who pay more than 35 highway tolls in a month with a transponder.

https://weartv.com/news/local/florida-lawmakers-ok-property-insurance-changes-with-no-help-for-homeowners#

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Greetings from Floriduh.

Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill author facing up to 35 years in prison



Joe Harding, the now-former Florida Republican lawmaker who authored the extremist "Don't Say Gay" bill could face up to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday afternoon to federal felony fraud charges in a scheme to obtain $150,000 in COVID-19 relief funds, according to Florida Politics‘ publisher Peter Scorsch.

Harding, 35, was a construction project manager who started his own lawn care company. He quickly became a right-wing darling after his anti-LGBTQ legislation, officially the Parental Rights in Education Act, was embraced by Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, who signed it into law.

Harding was charged in a December federal indictment with six counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements in his plot to obtain $150,000 in COVID funds. He resigned from the legislature the following day. He originally pled not guilty.

READ MORE: 'Chilling': Law Enforcement 'Seriously' Investigating Threats Ahead of Possible Trump Indictment Says Top WaPo Reporter

After Harding was charged and resigned, Nadine Smith, the executive director of Equality Florida, responded via social media, saying: "So much harm to students, parents and teachers because of his raw political ambitions. He slandered entire communities and trafficked in lie after lie that has emboldened violent bigotry. He will have his day in court but his legacy is already a despicable one."

Harding is not the only family member accused of criminal acts.

"Harding's indictment follows a September guilty plea from his brother-in-law, Patrick Walsh," Florida Politics reported in December. "As reported by Fresh Take Florida, Walsh pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges connected to his receipt of nearly $8 million in disaster relief loans."

Unrepentant to the harm many feel he has done to children and the LGBTQ community, in a statement Tuesday Harding said: "During the past legislative session I have felt the support of millions of Americans while fighting for our shared concerns and for the rights of parents. I will never forget the support I received from every corner of this great country."

READ MORE: 18 Attorneys General Blast Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Law as Unconstitutional

Harding will be sentenced in July.

Florida's Voice also reported Harding's guilty plea Tuesday.

https://www.alternet.org/dont-say-gay-author-prison/?utm_source=123456&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=13578

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The brother-in-law:

Florida blimp magnate pleads guilty to stealing nearly $8 million in COVID-19 pandemic aid

"An international blimp magnate in north-central Florida will be sentenced in January in federal court after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal government of nearly $8 million in relief aid meant to help average Americans during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to court records.

Executive Patrick P. Walsh, 41, of Williston, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering at the federal courthouse in Gainesville two weeks ago. The judge allowed him to remain free until he is sentenced at the end of January.

Among other expenses, Walsh used some of the money to buy a private two-acre island in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Yankeetown, Florida, prosecutors said. He also put a downpayment on a luxury ski lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and paid off the 78-acre farm where he lives south of Gainesville, according to court records..."

https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/crime/2022/09/14/florida-blimp-executive-patrick-walsh-pleads-guilty-wire-fraud-laundering/10376585002/

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It's easier to find Waldo than it is to find a Republican who isn't corrupt. Ever since their party became a religion, and their politicians televangelists, they're grown more and more shameless about their criminal bent. When you know your base is a bunch of stupid sheep, you have little reason to not shear 'em. And that party's gotten so obviously dumb they're drawing in crooks like a bug light. Criminals seek out the vulnerable and the easy marks, and Trump made it clear that's what most of the Republican base are -- people just waiting to get conned. And, worse, they'll defend the people conning 'em instead of ever wising up.