HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/HB 1185 Consumer Protection
SPONSOR(S): Commerce Committee, Insurance & Banking Subcommittee, Giallombardo and others
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: CS/CS/SB 1398
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Insurance & Banking Subcommittee 18 Y, 0 N, As CS Fortenberry Lloyd
2) Commerce Committee 19 Y, 0 N, As CS Fortenberry Hamon
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
The bill makes changes related to consumer protection, including:
 Mortgage lender locations: allows loan originators to work from a remote location if certain criteria are met .
 Crowd-funding campaigns: identifies unlawful acts and practices regarding online crowd-funding
campaigns related to disasters.
 Distributed energy generation system (DEGS) disclosures: adds to the information and disclosures that
must be provided to customers when they purchase or lease DEGS.
 Check-cashing businesses: prohibits licensed check-cashing businesses from cashing corporate checks
when the total amount of all checks cashed for each payee exceeds 200 percent of the payee’s workers’
compensation policy coverage; makes it a third-degree felony for someone to knowingly cash such checks.
 Insurance agency and adjusting firm names: Department of Financial Services may disapprove adjusting
firm names on the same grounds under which it can disapprove of insurance agency names
 Public adjusters: significantly alters the requirements for contracts between public adjusters and insureds
or claimants; provides for additional disclosures to accompany such contracts; provides for recordkeeping
requirements for public adjusters.
 Insurer advertisements: establishes it is an unfair method of competition, or an unfair or deceptive act or
practice, if an insurer fails to disclose a third party that it receives royalties, referral fees, or other money for
sponsorship, marketing, or use of third-party branding for a health insurance contract.
 Insurance coverage for hurricanes: reduces the statutory duration that a hurricane deductible applies;
defines hurricane deductible as the deductible applicable to loss caused by a hurricane.
 Insurer underwriting timeframes: reduces the time that an insurer has to cancel a policy for reasons other
than material misstatement, nonpayment of premium, or failure to comply with underwriting requirements
from 90 days to 60 days.
 Annuities: revises the law to reflect the most recent changes to the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners’ Annuity Transactions Model Regulation.
 Service agreements and manufacturer warranties: provides an additional exception to unearned
premium reserve requirements for service agreement companies; revises solvency requirements for
manufacturers who sell service warranties.
 Notice of property insurance claims: creates a three-year timeframe for providing notice of a
condominium- or homeowners’ association-related loss assessment claim to an insurer where no specific
limit currently applies.
The bill has no impact on local or state government revenues or expenditures. It has an indeterminate positive and
negative direct economic impact on the private sector.
Except as otherwise expressly provided, the bill is effective on July 1, 2023.
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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 FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Mortgage Lender Locations
Background
The Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) is responsible for the regulation of banks, credit unions, and
other financial institutions, finance companies, and the security industry. 1 OFR is responsible for the
administration and enforcement of ch. 494, F.S., relating to loan originators and mortgage brokers.
OFR licenses and regulates the practice of these individuals.
A loan originator is an individual who, directly or indirectly: 2
 Solicits or offers to solicit a mortgage loan;
 Accepts or offers to accept an application for a mortgage loan;
 Negotiates or offers to negotiate the terms or conditions of a new or existing mortgage loan on
behalf of a borrower or lender; or
 Negotiates or offers to negotiate the sale of an existing mortgage loan to a noninstitutional
investor for compensation or gain.
The term loan originator does not include an employee of a mortgage broker or lender who only
handles a completed application form or transmits a completed application form to a lender on behalf of
a prospective borrower.3
A mortgage broker conducts loan originator activities through one or more licensed loan originators
employed by the mortgage broker or as independent contractors to the mortgage broker. 4 In contrast, a
mortgage lender makes a mortgage loan or services a mortgage loan for others or, for compensation or
gain, directly or indirectly, sells or offers to sell a mortgage loan to a noninstitutional investor. 5 A
mortgage lender may act as a mortgage broker.6
Each mortgage broker and lender must maintain, and transact business from, a principal place of
business,7 which is a primary office with a street address or physical location designated on a licensure
application.8 A mortgage broker or lender may also operate out of a branch office, 9 but each branch
office must be separately licensed10 and operated by a branch manager11 who must be licensed as a
loan originator. Currently, mortgage brokers and lenders are not legally authorized to work from remote
locations and doing so may result in administrative action by OFR.
1 S. 20.121(3)(a)2., F.S.
2 S. 494.001(18), F.S.
3 Id.
4 S. 494.001(23), F.S.
5 S. 494.001(24), F.S.
6 See s. 494.0073, F.S.
7 Ss. 494.0039, and 494.0073, F.S.
8 S. 494.001(31), F.S.
9 See s. 494.001(3), F.S.
10 Ss. 494.0036(1) and 494.0066(1), F.S.
11 Ss. 494.0035(2) and 494.00665(2), F.S.
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 Effect of the Bill
The bill adds a remote location to the definition of a mortgage broker’s or lender’s branch office. It
defines a remote location as:
 A location, other than a principal place of business or a branch office;
 At which a loan originator of a licensee may conduct business.
Licensees may allow loan originators to work from a remote location if:
 The licensee has written policies and procedures for supervision of loan originators working
from a remote location;
 Access to company platforms and customer information meets the licensee’s comprehensive
written information security plan;
 An in-person customer interaction does not occur at a loan originator’s residence, unless the
residence is a licensed location;
 Physical records are not maintained at a remote location;
 Customer interactions and conversations about consumers comply with federal and state
information security requirements;
 Loan originators working at a remote location access the company’s secure systems via a
virtual private network or comparable system;
 The licensee ensures that appropriate security updates, patches, or other security alterations
used at remote locations are installed and maintained;
 The licensee has the ability to remotely lock or erase company-related contents of any device or
remotely limit access to secure systems; and
 The Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry’s 12 record of a loan originator who
works from a remote location designates the principal place of business as the loan originator’s
registered location or the loan originator has elected a licensed branch office as a registered
location.
The bill changes the locations where a mortgage lender may lawfully conduct business to include a
branch office or remote location in addition to a principal place of business.
Crowd-funding Campaigns
Background
Responses to natural disasters, including hurricanes, often include crowd-funding campaigns to raise
money to help those who have been affected.13 Unfortunately, some of these campaigns are scams
that prey on people’s willingness to help disaster victims. 14 Online crowd-funding platforms receive
donations and distribute them without oversight and may be unable to determine whether the funds
received were used appropriately.15
Effect of the Bill
The bill creates a statutory framework for unlawful acts and practices regarding online crowd-funding
campaigns. It provides relevant definitions for crowd-funding campaign, crowd-funding platform,
disaster, and organizer. The bill defines crowd-funding campaign as an online fundraising initiative that
is:
 Intended to receive monetary donations; and
 Created by an organizer in the interest of a beneficiary.
12 The Nationwide Multistate Licensing System is centralized online database that is used by mortgage and finance
regulatory agencies to maintain state licensing programs. Rocket Mortgage, What is NMLS?,
https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/what-is-nmls (last visited Mar. 19, 2023).
13 Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS), Agency Analysis of 2023 House Bill 1185, p. 2 (Feb. 27, 2023).
14 Id.
15 Id. at p. 3.
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 The bill defines an organizer as a person who:
 Resides or is domiciled in Florida; and
 Has an account on a crowd-funding platform and has created a crowd-funding campaign either
as a beneficiary or on behalf of a beneficiary.
The bill requires that a crowd-funding platform do the following for crowd-funding campaigns arising
from a disaster:
 Collect contact information regarding the organizer and retain it for one year after the date of the
disaster;
 Require the organizer to indicate on the crowd-funding campaign the state in which they are
located;
 Cooperate with law enforcement investigations;
 Clearly display and direct donors to fundraisers that comply with their terms of service;
When an organizer arranges a crowd-funding campaign related to a disaster, the organizer must attest
that:
 All information provided in connection with a crowd-funding campaign is accurate, complete,
and not likely to deceive.
 All donations contributed to the campaign will be used solely as described in information
provided by the organizer.
Distributed Energy Generation System Disclosures
Background
Under current law, when a customer purchases or leases a distributed energy generation system
(DEGS), including solar panels, certain information and disclosures must be provided to the customer,
including contact information for the installer, cost and rebate information, and financial
considerations.16 However, contact information for the regulator of the system installer is not
included.17 Disclosures about how these DEGS may impact a customer’s homeowners’ insurance
premiums and coverage or the life of their roof is also not provided. 18
Effect of the Bill
The bill adds to the information and disclosures that must be provided to customers when they
purchase or lease DEGS. The customer must be given phone number for the Department of Business
and Professional Regulation’s customer contact center.
Customers must be informed that they should consider the age and remaining life of their roofs before
installing DEGS and that replacement of their roofs may require reinstallation of the DEGS. The bill also
requires that customers be given a statement informing them that:
 Placing DEGS on their roof may impact their future insurance premiums; and
 Customers are responsible for contacting their insurers prior to entering a purchase or lease
agreement for the DEGS to determine whether their current policy or coverage needs
modification upon installing the DEGS onto their dwelling.
16 S. 520.23, F.S.
17 DFS, supra, note 13 at p. 3.
18 Id.
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 Check Cashing
Background
The Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) licenses and regulates check cashers pursuant to ch. 560,
F.S. Florida law imposes various requirements on check cashers, including requiring the licensee to
maintain copies of each payment instrument cashed. 19 If the payment instrument exceeds $1,000, the
following additional information must be maintained:
 Customer files, as prescribed by rule,20 on all customers who cash corporate payment
instruments that exceed $1,000;
 A copy of the personal identification that bears a photograph of the customer used as
identification and presented by the customer; and
 A thumbprint of the customer taken by the licensee when the payment instrument is presented
for negotiation or payment.21
In addition to the information that a licensee must maintain, the following information must be entered
into the check cashing database operated by OFR before entering into each check cashing transaction
for each payment instrument being cashed if the payment exceeds $1,000:
 Transaction date;
 Payor name as displayed on the payment instrument;
 Payee name as displayed on the payment instrument;
 Conductor22 name, if different from the payee name;
 Amount of the payment instrument;
 Amount of currency provided;
 Type of payment instrument, which may include personal, payroll, government, corporate, third-
party, or another type of instrument;
 Amount of the fee charged for cashing of the payment instrument;
 Branch or location where the payment instrument was accepted;
 The type of identification and the identification number presented by the payee or conductor;
 Payee’s workers’ compensation insurance policy number or exemption certificate number, if the
payee is a business; and
 Such additional information as required by rule.23
OFR must ensure that the check cashing database provides an interface with the Secretary of State’s
database for purposes of verifying corporate registration and articles of incorporation and with the
Department of Financial Services’ (DFS) database for purposes of determining proof of coverage for
workers’ compensation.24
Effect of the Bill
The bill prohibits licensed check cashing businesses from cashing corporate checks when the total amount
of all checks cashed for each payee exceeds 200 percent of the payee’s workers’ compensation policy
coverage. This change is meant to prevent an employer committing workers’ compensation fraud by:
 Making a corporate check out to itself or to “cash”;
 Cashing the check at a check cashing business; and
 Using the cash to pay employees “off the books” or “under the table”.
19 S. 560.310(1), F.S.
20 R. 69V-560.704, F.A.C.
21 S. 560.310(2)(a)-(c), F.S.
22 The term “conductor” is defined as “a natural person who presents himself or herself to a [check casher] for purposes of
cashing a payment instrument.” S. 560.103(9), F.S. The term is used in the context of the cashing of a corporate payment
instrument, which is a payment instrument on which the payee is not a natural person (i.e., the payee is a corporate
entity). S. 560.103(10), F.S. A check casher may accept or cash a corporate payment instrument from a conductor who is
an authorized officer of the corporate payee named on the instrument’s face. S. 560.309(4), F.S.
23 S. 560.310(1)(d), F.S.
24 S. 560.310(5), F.S.
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 By paying employees in cash, the employer would show a smaller amount of payroll and be charged a
lesser premium by its workers’ compensation insurer for coverage for its employees.
The bill also makes it a third-degree felony for someone to knowingly cash checks in excess of the above
amount.
Insurance Agency and Adjusting Firm Names
Background
DFS recently began licensing adjusting firms.25 However, unlike the authority to disapprove names of
insurance agencies, DFS does not have the authority to disapprove misleading names of adjusting