| 1 | The Insurance Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to community behavioral health agencies; |
| 7 | creating s. 624.4624, F.S.; authorizing certain nonprofit |
| 8 | community mental health or substance abuse providers to |
| 9 | form a self-insurance fund for certain purposes; providing |
| 10 | operating requirements of the self-insurance fund; |
| 11 | providing certain application exceptions for such fund; |
| 12 | requiring certain funds to initially be organized and |
| 13 | operate as a commercial self-insurance fund for a time |
| 14 | certain; requiring certain self-insurance funds to comply |
| 15 | with certain annual financial statement requirements for a |
| 16 | time certain; amending s. 768.28, F.S.; providing that |
| 17 | certain providers or vendors acting contractually on |
| 18 | behalf of the Department of Children and Family Services, |
| 19 | and their employees and agents, are agents of the state |
| 20 | for purposes of waiver of sovereign immunity in tort |
| 21 | actions under certain circumstances; requiring contracts |
| 22 | to provide for indemnification of the state by such agents |
| 23 | for certain liabilities up to certain limits; providing |
| 24 | that such persons are not employees or agents for purposes |
| 25 | of workers' compensation; restricting application; |
| 26 | providing an effective date. |
| 27 |
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| 28 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 29 |
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| 30 | Section 1. Section 624.4624, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 31 | to read: |
| 32 | 624.4624 Nonprofit community mental health and substance |
| 33 | abuse provider self-insurance fund.-- |
| 34 | (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, any two |
| 35 | or more nonprofit community mental health or substance abuse |
| 36 | providers, which are members in good standing of a nonprofit |
| 37 | statewide association which has been in existence for at least |
| 38 | 10 years and is comprised of at least 50 community-based mental |
| 39 | health and substance abuse agencies which are primarily publicly |
| 40 | funded and located in this state, may form a self-insurance fund |
| 41 | for the purpose of pooling and spreading liabilities of its |
| 42 | group members in any property or casualty risk or surety |
| 43 | insurance or securing the payment of benefits under chapter 440, |
| 44 | provided the nonprofit community mental health and substance |
| 45 | abuse provider self-insurance fund created must: |
| 46 | (a) Have annual normal premiums in excess of $5 million. |
| 47 | (b) Maintain a continuing program of excess insurance |
| 48 | coverage and reserve evaluation to protect the financial |
| 49 | stability of the fund in an amount and manner determined by a |
| 50 | qualified and independent actuary. |
| 51 | (c) Submit to the office annually an audited fiscal year- |
| 52 | end financial statement by an independent certified public |
| 53 | accountant within 6 months after the end of the fiscal year. |
| 54 | (d) Have a governing body which is comprised entirely of |
| 55 | community mental health and substance abuse provider officials. |
| 56 | (2) A nonprofit community mental health and substance |
| 57 | abuse provider self-insurance fund that meets the requirements |
| 58 | of this section is not subject to s. 624.4621 and is not |
| 59 | required to file any report with the department under s. |
| 60 | 440.38(2)(b) required of group self-insurer funds qualified |
| 61 | under s. 624.4621. If any of the requirements of this section |
| 62 | are not met, the nonprofit mental health and substance abuse |
| 63 | provider self-insurance fund is subject to the requirements of |
| 64 | s. 624.4621. |
| 65 | (3)(a) Notwithstanding subsection (2), a nonprofit |
| 66 | community mental health and substance abuse provider self- |
| 67 | insurance fund created under this section after October 1, 2005, |
| 68 | shall initially be subject to the requirements of a commercial |
| 69 | fund under s. 624.4621 and, for the first 5 years of its |
| 70 | existence, shall be subject to all the requirements applied to |
| 71 | commercial self-insurance funds or to group self-insurance |
| 72 | funds, respectively. |
| 73 | (b)1. A nonprofit community mental health and substance |
| 74 | abuse provider self-insurance fund formed after January 1, 2006, |
| 75 | shall, for its first 5 fiscal years, file with the office full |
| 76 | and true statements of its financial condition, transactions, |
| 77 | and affairs. An annual statement covering the preceding fiscal |
| 78 | year shall be filed within 60 days after the end of the fund's |
| 79 | fiscal year and quarterly statements shall be filed within 45 |
| 80 | days after each such date. The office may, for good cause, grant |
| 81 | an extension of time for filing an annual or quarterly |
| 82 | statement. The statements shall contain information generally |
| 83 | included in insurers' financial statements prepared in |
| 84 | accordance with generally accepted insurance accounting |
| 85 | principles and practices and in a form generally used by |
| 86 | insurers for financial statements, sworn to by at least two |
| 87 | executive officers of the self-insurance fund. The form for |
| 88 | financial statements shall be the form currently approved by the |
| 89 | National Association of Insurance Commissioners for use by |
| 90 | property and casualty insurers. |
| 91 | 2. Each annual statement shall contain a statement of |
| 92 | opinion on loss and loss adjustment expense reserves made by a |
| 93 | member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Workpapers in |
| 94 | support of the statement of opinion must be provided to the |
| 95 | office upon request. |
| 96 | Section 2. Subsection (21) is added to section 768.28, |
| 97 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 98 | 768.28 Waiver of sovereign immunity in tort actions; |
| 99 | recovery limits; limitation on attorney fees; statute of |
| 100 | limitations; exclusions; indemnification; risk management |
| 101 | programs.-- |
| 102 | (21)(a) Solely with respect to services to individuals in |
| 103 | need of detoxification and services through an addictions |
| 104 | receiving facility under chapter 397 or mental health services |
| 105 | under chapter 394, providers or vendors, or any of their |
| 106 | employees or agents, that have contractually agreed to act on |
| 107 | behalf of the state as agents of the Department of Children and |
| 108 | Family Services to provide such services are agents of the state |
| 109 | for purposes of this section while acting within the scope of |
| 110 | and pursuant to guidelines established in the contract or by |
| 111 | rule. A contract must provide for the indemnification of the |
| 112 | state by the agent for any liabilities incurred up to the limits |
| 113 | set out in this chapter. |
| 114 | (b) This subsection does not designate a person who |
| 115 | provides contracted services to the Department of Children and |
| 116 | Family Services as an employee or agent of the state for |
| 117 | purposes of chapter 440. |
| 118 | (c) This subsection does not provide any immunity to, or |
| 119 | limitation on liability for, any person or entity which provides |
| 120 | services to an individual who is paying or being reimbursed for |
| 121 | that service in any amount or who is insured for that service. |
| 122 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005. |