On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced he vetoed four bills. The bill most notably being struck was SB 54, a bill related to motor vehicle insurance due to the bill potentially having “unintended consequences,” the DeSantis team said.
The bill was a repeal which would have eliminated no-fault PIP system and would have required more than $25,000 worth of mandatory bodily injury coverage. Florida’s lawmakers supported the legislation, but the insurance lobby argued the repeal could lead to more uninsured drivers.
“While the PIP system has flaws and Florida law regarding bad faith is deficient, CS/CS/SB 54 does not adequately address the current issues facing Florida drivers and may have unintended consequences that would negatively impact both the market and consumers,” DeSantis said in a veto letter.
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) made an argument based on their claim that the average auto insurance policy could increase as much as 23 percent and was glad to see DeSantis veto the bill.
“Moving forward, we hope any proposals to reform or eliminate Florida’s no-fault auto insurance system will reduce consumer costs, combat rampant lawsuit abuse by implementing meaningful bad faith reforms, and prevent or minimize fraud,” APCIA said in a statement.
One of the other bill DeSantis vetoed was SB 146 related to civic literacy education sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-24). According to the bill’s text, it would have required the Florida Education Commissioner to draft new standards for a civic literacy practicum entitled the Civic Scholar Program.
However, DeSantis wrote that the bill “seeks to further so-called ‘action civics’ but does so in a way that risks promoting the preferred orthodoxy of two particular institutions.”
The other two bill vetoed were SB 166, relating to public records, and SB 274, relating to expunging juvenile arrest records.
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Florida Senate Capitol” by Michael Rivera CC 3.0.
