Issue 174, April 16, 2023
This past Wednesday we had a nice turnout to hear from Bill Herrle, Executive Director, Florida, of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. His organization focuses on representing the best interests of small business and lobbying the government to make change. He told us about many of the priorities going on in the legislature, primarily concerning small business.
Currently, the tax bill that was signed by our Governor on Valentine’s Day is being implemented and has four major factors that could affect our businesses.
First, Tort Reform. The form of comparative fault. This primarily affects how lawsuits can be assessed.
Second, One-way attorney’s fees. In the past, lawsuits could be argued in court with no penalty to the attorneys. Now, there will be fees in filing nebulous cases putting the risk on the plaintiff.
Third, Ambulance chasers. All information must be provided to the jury as to actual costs incurred, and comparative costs for services rendered to make educated assessments.
Lastly, Bad faith claim reform. Businesses can be held responsible for insurance charges and in return, insurance companies can be held liable for overcharging premiums that aren’t fairly reimbursed.
In addition, Herrle spoke on the state of Florida’s taxes. He said we are financially in a great position and have a surplus of $15-20 Billion, primarily leftover from the “Biden Bucks”. Florida has one of the highest bond ratings and the legislature is working on ways to get money back to our taxpayers, most likely with creative tax holidays.
This coming Wednesday, we will hear from Matt Berseth, Chief Information Officer of NLP Logix, a Jacksonville Business Journal’s Fast 50 finalist. This organization has diverse teams of Statisticians, Mathematicians, Software Developers, and ML Engineers delivering amazing automation solutions to their clients.
Please don’t forget to bring a door prize and a bottle of wine donation for our upcoming Wine Raffle. Recognition is given to all that participate. Have a great week and we hope to see you soon.
Respectfully,
Jeanne Maron
2023 President
