Florida Senate - 2019 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 122 Ì923034yÎ923034 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: WD . 03/04/2019 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Banking and Insurance (Thurston) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Delete everything after the enacting clause 4 and insert: 5 Section 1. Section 627.7152, Florida Statutes, is created 6 to read: 7 627.7152 Assignment of residential homeowner's property 8 insurance post-loss benefits.— 9 (1) An agreement to assign post-loss benefits of a 10 residential homeowner's property insurance policy is not valid 11 unless the agreement: 12 (a) Is in writing; 13 (b) Is limited to claims for work performed or work to be 14 performed by the assignee to protect or repair property from 15 damage, including, but not limited to, work to stabilize, 16 protect, repair, or improve such property; 17 (c) Allows the insured to rescind the assignment within 3 18 days after the execution of the assignment without a penalty or 19 fee; 20 (d) Contains the following notice in 14-point bold type to 21 the consumer: 22 23 "WARNING: IF YOU HAVE RESIDENTIAL HOMEOWNERS PROPERTY 24 INSURANCE, YOU MAY BE AGREEING TO GIVE UP CERTAIN 25 RIGHTS YOU HAVE UNDER YOUR INSURANCE POLICY TO A THIRD 26 PARTY. PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS DOCUMENT BEFORE 27 SIGNING IT. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF PAYMENT FOR WORK 28 ALREADY PERFORMED BY A SERVICE PROVIDER TO PREVENT 29 ADDITIONAL DAMAGE FROM OCCURRING TO THE PROPERTY 30 RESULTING FROM EMERGENCY OR URGENT CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU 31 HAVE THE RIGHT TO RESIND THIS AGREEMENT WITHOUT 32 PENTALTY WITHIN 3 BUSINESS DAYS AFTER THE DATE THIS 33 AGREEMENT IS EXECUTED. IF THE ASSIGNMENT IS RESCINDED, 34 YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO PAY FOR THE WORK DONE UP TO THE 35 DATE OF THE RESCISSION AND YOU ARE NOT OTHERWISE 36 RESPONSIBLE TO PAY FOR THE WORK COVERED BY THE 37 ASSIGNMENT. IF WORK IS BEING PERFOMED AS A RESULT OF 38 DAMAGES CAUSED BY AN EVENT FOR WHICH THE GOVERNOR HAS 39 DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY AND IS WITHIN 1 YEAR 40 AFTER SUCH DECLARATION, THE 3 BUSINESS DAY PERIOD TO 41 RESIND THIS AGREEMENT IS EXTENDED TO 5 BUSINESS DAYS. 42 THIS AGREEMENT DOES NOT CHANGE YOUR DUTIES UNDER YOUR 43 PROPERTY INSURANCE POLICY, SUCH AS PROMPTLY NOTIFYING 44 YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY OF A LOSS AND MITIGATING YOUR 45 PROPERTY FROM FURTHER DAMAGE. 46 47 (2)(a) The assignee shall provide a copy of the assignment 48 agreement to the insurer within 5 days after execution of the 49 agreement, or within 48 hours after beginning nonemergency work, 50 whichever is earlier, if the insurer has a facsimile number and 51 email address on its website designated for the delivery of such 52 documents. This assignment agreement must be accompanied by a 53 written estimate of the work to be done, with unit prices 54 indicated where appropriate, and the basis for calculating lump 55 sum fees if unit prices are inappropriate. The estimate must be 56 timely updated if conditions require a change in scope. The 57 failure to comply with this requirement constitutes a defense to 58 any payment obligation under the policy or the assignment, if 59 the insurer can establish prejudice resulting from the failure. 60 (3) Notwithstanding any other law, the acceptance by a 61 person of any assignment agreement constitutes a waiver by the 62 assignee or transferee, and any subcontractor of the assignee or 63 transferee, of any and all claims against all named insureds for 64 payment arising from the specified loss, except that all named 65 insureds remain responsible for the payment of any deductible 66 amount provided for by the terms of the insurance policy and for 67 the cost of any betterment ordered by all named insureds. This 68 waiver remains in effect notwithstanding any subsequent 69 determination that the assignment agreement is invalid or 70 notwithstanding the rescission of the assignment agreement by 71 all named insureds, except that the assignee is entitled to 72 payment for the reasonable cost of any contracted work performed 73 before the assignor rescinded the assignment agreement. 74 75 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 76 And the title is amended as follows: 77 Delete everything before the enacting clause 78 and insert: 79 A bill to be entitled 80 An act relating to assignment of residential 81 homeowners property insurance post-loss benefits; 82 creating s. 627.7152, F.S.; providing that an 83 agreement to assign post-loss benefits of a 84 residential homeowner's property insurance policy is 85 not valid unless specified conditions are met; 86 requiring the assignee to provide a copy of the 87 assignment agreement and a specified written estimate 88 to the insurer within a specified timeframe; requiring 89 the estimate to be timely updated if conditions 90 require a change in scope; providing construction 91 relating to failure to comply with such requirement; 92 providing that a person's acceptance of an assignment 93 agreement constitutes a waiver by the assignee or 94 transferee, or any subcontractor of the assignee or 95 transferee, of certain claims against named insureds, 96 except under specified circumstances; providing 97 construction relating to such waiver; providing an 98 effective date.