Florida Senate - 2015                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 252
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì924126ÂÎ924126                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/01/2015           .                                
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       The Committee on Judiciary (Soto) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 37 - 50
    4  and insert:
    5  statement of diligent effort from the retail or producing agent.
    6  However, to be in compliance with the diligent effort
    7  requirement, the surplus lines agent’s reliance must be
    8  reasonable under the particular circumstances surrounding the
    9  export of that particular risk. Reasonableness shall be assessed
   10  by taking into account factors which include, but are not
   11  limited to, a regularly conducted program of verification of the
   12  information provided by the retail or producing agent.
   13  Declinations must be documented on a risk-by-risk basis. If it
   14  is not possible to obtain the full amount of insurance required
   15  by layering the risk, it is permissible to export the full
   16  amount.
   17         Section 3. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section
   18  627.971, Florida Statutes, is amended to read
   19         627.971 Definitions.—As used in this part:
   20         (1)
   21         (b) However, “financial guaranty insurance” does not
   22  include:
   23         1. Insurance of a loss resulting from an event described in
   24  paragraph (a), if the loss is payable only upon the occurrence
   25  of any of the following, as specified in a surety bond,
   26  insurance policy, or indemnity contract:
   27         a. A fortuitous physical event;
   28         b. A failure of or deficiency in the operation of
   29  equipment; or
   30         c. An inability to extract or recover a natural resource;
   31         2. An individual or schedule public official bond;
   32         3. A court bond required in connection with judicial,
   33  probate, bankruptcy, or equity proceedings, including a waiver,
   34  probate, open estate, or life tenant bond;
   35         4. A bond running to a federal, state, county, municipal
   36  government, or other political subdivision, as a condition
   37  precedent to the granting of a license to engage in a particular
   38  business or of a permit to exercise a particular privilege;
   39         5. A loss security bond or utility payment indemnity bond
   40  running to a governmental unit, railroad, or charitable
   41  organization;
   42         6. A lease, purchase and sale, or concessionaire surety
   43  bond;
   44         7. Credit unemployment insurance on a debtor in connection
   45  with a specific loan or other credit transaction, to provide
   46  payments to a creditor in the event of unemployment of the
   47  debtor for the installments or other periodic payments becoming
   48  due while a debtor is unemployed;
   49         8. Credit insurance indemnifying a manufacturer, merchant,
   50  or educational institution which extends credit against loss or
   51  damage resulting from nonpayment of debts owed to her or him for
   52  goods or services provided in the normal course of her or his
   53  business;
   54         9. Guaranteed investment contracts that are issued by life
   55  insurance companies and that provide that the life insurer will
   56  make specified payments in exchange for specific premiums or
   57  contributions;
   58         10. Mortgage guaranty insurance as defined in s. 635.011(1)
   59  or s. 635.021;
   60         11. Indemnity contracts or similar guaranties, to the
   61  extent that they are not otherwise limited or proscribed by this
   62  part, in which a life insurer guarantees:
   63         a. Its obligations or indebtedness or the obligations or
   64  indebtedness of a subsidiary of which it owns more than 50
   65  percent, other than a financial guaranty insurance corporation,
   66  if:
   67         (I) For any such obligations or indebtedness that are
   68  backed by specific assets, such assets are at all times owned by
   69  the insurer or the subsidiary; and
   70         (II) For the obligations or indebtedness of the subsidiary
   71  that are not backed by specific assets of the life insurer, the
   72  guaranty terminates once the subsidiary ceases to be a
   73  subsidiary; or
   74         b. The obligations or indebtedness, including the
   75  obligation to substitute assets where appropriate, with respect
   76  to specific assets acquired by a life insurer in the course of
   77  normal investment activities and not for the purpose of resale
   78  with credit enhancement, or guarantees obligations or
   79  indebtedness acquired by its subsidiary, provided that the
   80  assets so acquired have been:
   81         (I) Acquired by a special purpose entity where the sole
   82  purpose is to acquire specific assets of the life insurer or the
   83  subsidiary and issue securities or participation certificates
   84  backed by such assets; or
   85         (II) Sold to an independent third party; or
   86         c. The obligations or indebtedness of an employee or agent
   87  of the life insurer;
   88         12. Any form of surety insurance as defined in s. 624.606;
   89         13. Guarantees of higher education loans, unless written by
   90  a financial guaranty insurance corporation; or
   91         14.13. Any other form of insurance covering risks which the
   92  office determines to be substantially similar to any of the
   93  foregoing.
   94  
   95  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   96  And the title is amended as follows:
   97         Delete lines 5 - 7
   98  and insert:
   99         of insurance; amending s. 626.916, F.S.; revising the
  100         required conditions for the export of insurance
  101         coverage to delete a provision specifying how
  102         reasonableness shall be assessed under certain
  103         circumstances; amending s. 627.971, F.S.; providing
  104         that the term “financial guaranty insurance” does not
  105         include guarantees of higher education loans unless
  106         written by a financial guaranty insurance corporation;
  107         amending s.