Redistricting, budget deficits, prison privatization, auto insurance reform, and casino gaming, were the "big" topics in the 2012 Session. In the end, the Legislature passed a balanced budget with more than $1 billion in additional funding for K-12 schools (without any tax or fee increases); passed auto insurance reform designed to reduce insurance fraud; declined to adopt legislation on casino gaming or prison privatization; and crafted a redistricting plan that resulted in only a partial victory (just for the House, not the Senate) from the Florida Supreme Court.

The mixed results from the Session on the grand issues mirrored the overall results of 2235 bills filed, with only 292 passing. The Legislature did not place lending and financial institution issues at the top of its priority list this year. Last year, we celebrated a late-night victory of passing the loan processor bill in the final 10 minutes before midnight on the last day of Session. This year there was not a dramatic ending, the House and Senate just ran out time to consider bills.

FORECLOSURES: Plenty of foreclosure bills were filed again this year. In the past few years, the Legislature has been reluctant to take up any bill that would alter the foreclosure process based upon the premise that the market and judicial process should be left alone. And for the most part, MBAF has encouraged the Legislature to stick with a passive position on foreclosure - with the exception of our recommendation to consider a non-judicial foreclosure process. When the Florida Supreme Court instituted mandatory mediation, the Legislature stepped even further away from foreclosure reform, hoping that the Court's initiative might work. Of course, mandatory mediation did not work and the Court discontinued the program a few months ago. The Court's exit from the foreclosure mediation program opened the door for the Legislature to pursue a solution to foreclosure rates that continue to increase. For example, Tampa and Miami are currently leading the nation in foreclosure rate increases, with residential defaults increasing by 64 percent and 53 percent in the two cities, respectively, when compared to last year.

With foreclosures taking an average of 676 days to make it through the courts, Florida foreclosures are continuing to top the national charts. State Representative Kathleen Passidomo sponsored HB 213 to speed up the foreclosure process.

Her bill would have allowed all lienholders, such as apartment complexes and condominium associations, to begin foreclosure proceedings, set up a way for banks to declare properties abandoned, and would have limited mediation meetings. Some consumer groups opposed the bill, but bill was regarded as being fair to the homeowner, and attorneys on both sides of the foreclosure process commented that the legislation was a good attempt to balance the interests of all parties. In the end, the House bill passed the House, but the Senate refused to move the Senate companion bill - SB 1890 by Sen. Latvala, to the Senate Floor to be matched up with the House bill. We expect that the bills will be refiled next year.

INSURANCE: Property insurance reform is always an issue that MBAF is active in working with the Legislature. There still is much work to be done to make property insurance affordable and available in Florida. Most of the major proposals to reform Citizens Insurance Company failed this year - primarily because some of the initiatives would have further increased rates for policyholders. However, one bill that did pass was HB 1127. The legislation delays assessments on non-Citizens policyholders for more than a year by transferring most of the regular assessments after a catastrophic hurricane, which are due within 30 days, into emergency assessments.

CONDOMINIUMS: HB 319/SB 680 were the annual condominiums bills were filed and moved well through committee, although not without controversy as the bill provided that a first mortgagee may be liable to the condominium or homeowners association if title is foreclosed due to unpaid late fees, interest, costs, and reasonable attorneys fees. Neither bill passed when the Senate ran out of time to consider the bills even though they had been scheduled to be heard on the Senate Floor on the last day of Session.

FIDUCIARIES: SB 1050 by Sen. Bogdanoff moved easily through the Legislature. The bill provides that a mortgagor may request and receive, within 14 days, information about the loan from the mortgagee. To receive information about the mortgage, the bill requires a record title owner of the property, or any person lawfully authorized to act on behalf of the mortgagor or record title owner of the property, to provide an instrument proving title or lawful authorization. The mortgagee must then provide the total unpaid balance on a per-day basis, but may also include additional information. The bill provides that a mortgagee may release the mortgage information notwithstanding a confidentiality statute and that the mortgagee is discharged from liability as a result of a release of information in accordance with this bill.

The Legislature returned to Tallahassee for the special session on redistricting, which was accomplished with many issues back and forth but in the end the State of Florida has new district lines. We are sure to hear more about this in the coming months too.

_______________________

Eric D. Prutsman, Esq.

Prutsman & Associates, P.A.

We are ALL Leaders

Submitted by Kristina Holmen-Mohr, CMB 

We are ALL leaders. Whether we have a management role, are an officer of MBA of Florida or your local MBA chapter or not, we lead our families, our business lives, church and volunteer activities. 

The following excerpt is from John C. Maxwell's, "The Right to Lead":

As you prepare yourself to become a better leader, use the following guidelines to help you grow:

1. Let go of your ego.

The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people. Perhaps that is why Lawrence D. Bell remarked, "Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things."

 2. Become a good follower first.

Rare is the effective leader who didn't learn to become a good follower first. That is why a leadership institution such as the United States Military Academy teaches its officers to become effective followers first-and why West Point has produced more leaders than the Harvard Business School.

3. Build positive relationships.

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today's generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.

4. Work with excellence.

No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They bring into play not only their skills and talents, but also great passion and hard work. They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.

5. Rely on discipline, not emotion.