FAIFA Membership Talking Points
- The Taxation and Budget Review Commission has drafted a proposal that would make all services, except certain exempted “narrowly defined services” a part of the state’s sales tax base. Yes, it is possible agent’s commissions could be taxed! A large vibrant membership is key (FAIFAPAC contributions also help) to getting the attention of the Legislature.
Get ready to do battle because given the economic environment in Florida these days, such proposals are expected to get serious consideration from lawmakers. We will need a huge commitment from FAIFA to convince legislators that such an approach to raising state revenue would be unfairly applied to agents’ commissions.

- FAIFA has bolstered its headquarters staff to better serve members and to amplify our presence. We now hired Paul Brawner, who is a former agent, FAIFA member and professional trainer, to concentrate solely on enhanced professional development training. Also, we have brought on Bob Lotane, who worked as spokesman for both former Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty to strengthen FAIFA’s name in both the media and the public. Lotane will also be able to back up the already indomitable Tim Meenan to do even more in representing our interests at the Capitol.
In recent weeks FAIFA has been featured in stories in the Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, St. Petersburg Times, National Underwriter, Bradenton Herald, Gainesville Sun, Fox News, Tampa, NBC News in Miramar –ABC and NBC News in Palm Beach, Fox News in Orlando, ABC News in Pensacola, CBS News in Tallahassee, Bay News 9 in Tampa, Channel 13 News in Central Florida, NBC News in Panama City and statewide on radio.

- FAIFA has introduced the Florida Insurance News Roundup. A daily compilation of insurance and financial headlines from around the state (and nation if appropriate). Also, we will be including press releases and important memorandums from the Office of Insurance regulation and the Department of Financial Services.

- FAIFA was recognized as the only agent association that stood up for the Allstate agents who were caught in the middle of the dispute between the Office of Insurance Regulation and the Allstate companies (see press release below).

NEWS FROM THE FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL ADVISORS
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1836 Hermitage Blvd. Ste 200, Tallahassee, FL 32308 – www.faifa.org
Contact : Bob Lotane – lotane@faifa.org 850-422-1701(o) – 850-544-9446 (c)

FAIFA MEMBERS REGISTER CONCERN OVER INSURANCE DISPUTE
Agents Statewide Are Not Party to Clash, Yet Feel Caught in the Middle

TALLAHASSEE (1/18/2008) – Responding to an outpouring of concern from its member agents, the Florida Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (FAIFA) today called on Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty and the Allstate Insurance Companies to redouble efforts to settle their much publicized dispute that resulted in the company’s Certificate of Authority (COA) being suspended. Agents representing numerous companies have called FAIFA’s Tallahassee headquarters with concerns that the dispute will result in negative ramifications for Florida’s insurance market, that go far beyond just the Allstate insurance companies.

“We are also concerned that the eyes of the international insurance community are on Florida,” said FAIFA spokesman Bob Lotane. “We do not want to see the difficult market challenges we face become exponentially worse.”

FAIFA agents representing numerous companies, including Allstate, are concerned that the tone set in this matter will spread, and they are caught in the middle working with confused policyholders who have heard multiple messages about who is affected and how. An example of this type of message comes from the COA revocation order which said the Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) could not document Allstate’s claims handling procedures and, therefore, protect the public. This could certainly be a cause for concern by both the Office and policyholders.
Yet the 10 Allstate companies only logged 952 consumer service requests in 2007. In fact, since 2003 - which includes the brutal 2004 – 2005 catastrophic hurricane seasons - the state of Florida logged 5,439 consumer requests on the companies, representing a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of policyholders over a five-year period. This, in great part, is testament to the professionalism and dedication of the agents who are not a party to the recent dispute.

Lotane said that many of the agents FAIFA is hearing from are still working on large volumes of calls from policyholders confused about recent changes to the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) law. That policy language shows the coverage being dropped and then added in again only a couple of months later, and many policyholders were unaware that the rapid changes were made to the state’s automobile insurance code.