News Service of Florida

State regulators have finalized agreements requiring additional property insurers to pay fines because of violating claims-handling laws after Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Idalia. Documents posted on the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation website show that agreements known as “consent” orders, which were signed in August, required American Mobile Insurance Exchange to pay $400,000; Monarch National Insurance Co. to pay $325,000; and Tower Hill Prime Insurance Co. to pay $250,000. Combined with earlier agreements the result is more than $1.5 million in fines.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams has refused to pause her order requiring state and federal officials to wind down operations at an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Williams issued a preliminary injunction last week in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, finding state and federal officials failed to comply with a federal law requiring an environmental impact study be conducted before the remote facility was constructed.

State regulators last week finalized agreements that will lead to three property insurers paying fines for violating claims-handling laws after hurricanes.

The state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent consumers, opposed a newly proposed Florida Power & Light rate settlement Thursday, saying it would increase FPL’s revenues by an “unconscionable” amount.

Attorneys for the state Friday opposed an effort by the Miccosukee Tribe to join a lawsuit challenging an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” The tribe on July 14 filed a motion seeking to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, which allege that state and federal officials did not comply with a law requiring that an environmental impact study be performed before developing the detention center.

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday sent to a lower court a case filed by Democratic state lawmakers after they were denied entry to a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

State lawmakers and members of Congress will be able to visit a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades on Saturday, after some Democratic legislators last week were denied access to inspect the facility. The Florida Division of Emergency Management on Wednesday sent an email inviting “congressional and state legislators” to tour the detention center, which state officials hurriedly erected as part of an effort to help President Donald Trump’s deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a bill reversing a controversial 2018 law that led to limited public beach access in some areas. Lawmakers in April passed the bill (SB 1622) after widespread complaints about waterfront property owners in Walton County preventing people from using beaches.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill to revamp condominium-safety laws passed after the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside that killed 98 people. The wide-ranging bill (HB 913), approved unanimously by the House and Senate in April, was crafted after residents and condominium associations argued that the laws passed after the collapse were driving up costs.