Florida Senate - 2018 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 660
Ì394130pÎ394130
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
.
.
.
Floor: 1/AD/2R .
02/08/2018 04:52 PM .
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Senator Brandes moved the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Section 624.1265, Florida Statutes, is amended
6 to read:
7 624.1265 Nonprofit religious organization exemption;
8 authority; notice.—
9 (1) A nonprofit religious organization is not subject to
10 the requirements of the Florida Insurance Code if the nonprofit
11 religious organization:
12 (a) Qualifies under Title 26, s. 501 of the Internal
13 Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;
14 (b) Limits its participants to those members who share a
15 common set of ethical or religious beliefs of the same religion;
16 (c) Acts as a facilitator among an organizational
17 clearinghouse for information between participants who have
18 financial, physical, or medical needs to assist those with
19 financial, physical, or medical needs in accordance with
20 criteria established by the nonprofit religious organization and
21 participants who have the ability to pay for the benefit of
22 those participants who have financial, physical, or medical
23 needs;
24 (d) Provides for the financial or medical needs of a
25 participant through contributions from other participants, or
26 through payments directly from one participant to another
27 participant; and
28 (e) Provides amounts that participants may contribute, with
29 no assumption of risk and no promise to pay:
30 1. Among the participants; or
31 2. By the nonprofit religious organization to the
32 participants;
33 (f) Provides a monthly accounting to the participants of
34 the total dollar amount of qualified needs actually shared in
35 the previous month in accordance with criteria established by
36 the nonprofit religious organization; and
37 (g) Conducts an annual audit that is performed by an
38 independent certified public accounting firm in accordance with
39 generally accepted accounting principles and that is made
40 available to the public by providing a copy upon request or by
41 posting on the nonprofit religious organization’s website
42 suggests amounts that participants may voluntarily give with no
43 assumption of risk or promise to pay among the participants or
44 between the participants.
45 (2) This section does not prevent:
46 (a) The organization described in subsection (1) from
47 establishing qualifications of participation relating to the
48 health of a prospective participant, does not prevent A
49 participant from limiting the financial or medical needs that
50 may be eligible for payment; or, and does not prevent
51 (b) The nonprofit religious organization from canceling the
52 membership of a participant when such participant indicates his
53 or her unwillingness to participate by failing to meet the
54 conditions of membership make a payment to another participant
55 for a period in excess of 60 days.
56 (3) The nonprofit religious organization described in
57 subsection (1) shall provide a written disclaimer on or
58 accompanying all applications and guideline materials
59 distributed by or on behalf of the nonprofit religious
60 organization. The disclaimer must read in substance: “Notice:
61 The organization facilitating the sharing of medical expenses is
62 not an insurance company, and neither its guidelines nor its
63 plan of operation is an insurance policy. Membership is not
64 offered through an insurance company, and the organization is
65 not subject to the regulatory requirements or consumer
66 protections of the Florida Insurance Code. Whether anyone
67 chooses to assist you with your medical bills will be totally
68 voluntary because no other participant is compelled by law to
69 contribute toward your medical bills. As such, participation in
70 the organization or a subscription to any of its documents
71 should never be considered to be insurance. Regardless of
72 whether you receive any payments for medical expenses or whether
73 this organization continues to operate, you are always
74 personally responsible for the payment of your own medical
75 bills.” each prospective participant in the organizational
76 clearinghouse written notice that the organization is not an
77 insurance company, that membership is not offered through an
78 insurance company, and that the organization is not subject to
79 the regulatory requirements or consumer protections of the
80 Florida Insurance Code.
81 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.
82
83 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
84 And the title is amended as follows:
85 Delete everything before the enacting clause
86 and insert:
87 A bill to be entitled
88 An act relating to the Florida Insurance Code
89 exemption for nonprofit religious organizations;
90 amending s. 624.1265, F.S.; revising criteria under
91 which a nonprofit religious organization that
92 facilitates the sharing of contributions among its
93 participants for financial, physical, or medical needs
94 is exempt from requirements of the code; revising
95 construction; revising requirements for a notice
96 provided by the organization; providing an effective
97 date.