Give Gov. Jeb Bush credit. Sometimes in the legislative process after lawmakers have stumbled badly to reach an agreement on an issue, there is a need for someone to stand up and say that what lawmakers have agreed to is simply not good enough. Such was the position of Bush, who reached for the most powerful weapon at his disposal in the form of his veto pen, and struck down a lukewarm attempt by the legislature to reform the state's no-fault personal insurance protection insurance program.
Following homeowners' insurance, PIP was declared the second major insurance issue to be addressed by the legislature this year. Since lawmakers several years earlier enacted a bill that commanded the legislature to either renew PIP or let it expire in October 2007, the clock was ticking, giving the issue a sense of urgency. But despite an early start in the form of workshops and numerous committee meetings, the issue quickly became bogged down due to a number of factors. For one, there was no outcry from consumers who are benefiting from lower rates as the result of a competitive market. Also, industry trade groups and individual carriers could not agree on a common solution. And that is not to mention the collective efforts of the medical association and the trial bar to beat back the issue.
When it comes to the legislature, conventional wisdom dictates that lawmakers are conservative when passing laws. Conservative not in an ideological sense, but rather in the sense of being reluctant to enact bills that seem unnecessary or potentially injurious to an acceptable status quo. Faced with an array of different opinions, statistics, and debates over market share, it was quickly apparent that the search for any common ground on which to build a PIP reform platform would end on a fault line.
At this point, arguably speaking, lawmakers may have been better served to walk away from the issue and wait and see if another year had altered the debate to make a more palatable reform bill possible. After all, it took three years before lawmakers could agree on workers' comp reform, the whole time of which the market was in a steep downward spiral. But for better or worse it is an election year, and given the coming backlash from homeowners due to higher rates and assessments, the general consensus is that lawmakers had to have one issue they could stand on.
The blueprint is easy: Tear out a page from the law and order playbook by calling for a renewed emphasis on fraud, while extending the sunset provision from October 2007 until January 2009 — thus giving lawmakers two additional legislative sessions to revisit the issue. By and large this strategy works for the legislature and the governor is inclined to look away. But Bush supports the idea of implementing medical fee schedules and utilization cost controls. Then there is the prospect of taking on attorneys' fees, a fight that Bush has always relished.
This year, however, there were several insurance trade groups who lobbied Bush to veto the bill. Personally, I don't think when Bush vetoed the bill he gave a damn what anybody said. Bush knows he has little time left in the governor's office and striking down the PIP bill is just one sign that he will not relinquish his ability to set the agenda. Bush has no interest in being a lame duck, and, by virtue of his veto, he is not going to let the legislature act like one either.
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