All Florida drivers should get behind House Bill 719 entitled " Motor Vehicle Insurance". This new legislation will provide for the first time require drivers to carry liability insurance in Florida. Until now and since 1971 the only insurance that Florida drivers had to carry was no fault, which does not provide benefits for victims of negligence, only for the occupants of the insured vehicle. The only other required coverage was property damage. So if you are the victim of another drivers negligence, there is a good chance that your injuries may not be covered since up until now drivers in Florida do not have to carry liability insurance.
Efforts continue in the Florida legislature to repeal the state’s no-fault automobile insurance system, in effect since 1971, with a mandatory bodily injury liability regime. On April 14, 2021, the Florida Senate voted 38-1 to pass Senate Bill 54, which would replace the current Florida requirement of $10,000 in PIP benefits with mandatory bodily injury liability coverage. Significant aspects of SB 54 include:
Requiring bodily injury liability limits of $25,000 per person and, subject to the per-person limit, $50,000 in bodily injury limits for two or more people in any one crash.
Retaining the existing $10,000 financial responsibility requirement for property damage.
Requiring $5,000 in medical payments (MedPay) coverage with provisions relating to offering higher limits and deductibles. Notably, SB 54 requires insurers to reserve the first $5,000 of MedPay benefits for 30 days to pay physicians and dentists who provide emergency or hospital inpatient care.Provisions relating to insurer claim handling and bad-faith insurance actions.