Senator Tom Lee announced today the filing of Senate Bill 150, which repeals Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law and replaces it with mandatory bodily Injury and medical payment coverages.
“While well intentioned anecdotally, Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law has resulted in widespread fraud, abuse, and a complex litigation process,” Senator Lee said. “Since its enactment ‘70s, the value of the PIP benefit has eroded, while Florida’s auto insurance premiums continue to rise.”
The proposed legislation repeals Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law and establishes a mandate for bodily injury and medical payments coverages. Floridians will be required to purchase bodily injury liability coverage at limits of twenty thousand per person (forty thousand per incident), ten thousand dollars for property damage, and five thousand dollars in medical payments coverage.
“More than 92% of Florida drivers currently have some form of bodily injury coverage,” Senator Lee added. “For many, PIP is a duplicative coverage that burdens drivers with paying for accidents they didn’t cause. Good drivers are being punished by having to cover rate hikes, even if they never get in an accident, to pay for the negligence of other drivers and the general PIP costs in their region.”
Senate Bill 150 includes phase-in language that increases the bodily injury liability coverage requirements every two years until it reaches thirty thousand dollars for one person and sixty thousand dollars per incident.
“The legislature tried year after year to fix Florida’s overpriced, no-fault system,” Senator Lee said. “By switching to a tort-based system, we increase the simplicity of litigation, provide more adequate liability coverage at a reasonable price, and preserve some important protections for healthcare providers.”
For more information on Senate Bill 150, click here.