NEWS IN BRIEF

Florida Supreme Court elects Couriel as Chief Justice

News Service of Florida Justice John Couriel will be Florida’s next chief justice, after he was unanimously elected to the post Thursday by his fellow justices on the Florida Supreme Court. His two-year term begins July 1.

Couriel, 48, will succeed Justice Carlos Muñiz as chief justice, who has served in the role for two consecutive terms.

“I am grateful to my colleagues for their trust,” Couriel said in a released statement. He added that he is “indebted to the previous chief justices with whom I’ve served. I will do my best to serve the people of Florida as they so ably have.”

The chief justice is the administrative leader of not just the Florida Supreme Court but the entire state court system, helping to set the management and operational policies as well as the legislative and budget agendas for the judicial branch.

Before being appointed to the court in 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Couriel had never served as a judge. He grew up in Miami and earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University.

Couriel worked as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida and also practiced at a firm in New York and at Kobre & Kim LLP, a global firm with offices in Miami.

Insurances in Florida have

stabilized, grade improves Some tweaks are still needed from insurance-related reforms of the past couple

of years, Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky said this week, buť the overall home and auto markets have stabilized.

As the Office of Insurance Regulation opened a two-day summit Wednesday at Florida State University’s Turnbull Conference Center, Yaworsky gave a “B” grade to the results so far to the legislative changes.

‘We still have work to do. Consumers still need to be able to feel the ramification of reforms, and that just takes time,” Yaworsky said. “It took eight years for us to go from a relatively healthy market in 2014 to a market on the brink of collapse in 2022. And so, it’s taking time to pull out of that.”

He based the current grade on the industry having to dig out of an “F” in 2022.

“A couple of years ago ... there were fewer, fewer carriers willing to even consider writing,” Yaworsky said. “Reinsurers were, if they were even willing to offer any capital, it was basically almost ‘you pay $93, and we’ll give you $100 worth of coverage.’” Legislators passed major changes in the past few years that eliminated one-way attorney fees and banned assignment of benefits, where contractors would take over policyholder claims. The efforts also imposed larger rate increases for customers of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to bring rates closer to private carriers and reduce the number of policies held by the state-backed insurer.

Redistricting session delayed as Al, vaccines added Florida’s special session on redistricting will be delayed one week, after Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation Wednesday postponing it and reviving a couple of his priorities that failed during the regular legislative session.

The session was set to begin Monday, but DeSantis reset lawmakers’ return to Tallahassee to April 28, with the session lasting until May 1.

His proclamation also asks lawmakers address two of his key issues that failed to win House support in the 2026 session: a bill expanding vaccine exemptions for public K-12 students; and legislation aimed at protecting consumers’ interactions with artificial intelligence.

When asked about a potential delay on Tuesday, DeSantis said he expected the issue to be addressed “One way or another within the next two weeks.” Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, was quick to advise members of his chamber on Wednesday they will await map changes from DeSantis rather than draft their own.

“The Senate is not drafting or producing a map for introduction during the special session,” Albritton wrote in a memo to members shortly after DeSantis issued the proclamation. “It is our expectation . a proposal will be transmitted from the Governor’s Office to the Senate for our con- sideration.”

DeSantis’ office is expected to present his proposal to the Senate Rules Committee on April 28, the memo states.

Albritton warned members that as in prior redistricting cycles, significant litigation has followed any new lines.

‘We look forward to seeing the Governor’s proposed map,” House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said in a released statement. “The other issues mentioned in the proclamation will be evaluated once we have seen the draft legislation.”

The atypical mid-decade map changes are being pushed by the White House.

Transit package that honors

Bowden signed by DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Tuesday a transportation measure that dedicates the capital city airport as “Bobby Bowden-T Tallahassee International Airport.”

The bill (SB 628) includes 16 road and facility dedications, including a coastto-coast highway in South Florida for President Donald Trump.

DeSantis focused on Bowden during a bill signing ceremony in a field southeast of the airport, without addressing other parts the measure, which takes effect July 1.

“I can think of ono better person from this community, that people looked up to for decades, to name Tallahassee International Airport after, than our renowned head coach of Florida State University, after all those years, Bobby Bowden,” DeSantis said.

Bowden coached FSU from 1976 to 2009, winning two national championships, 12 Atlantic Coast Conference championships, and finished as an AP top 5 team for a 14-year stretch. Bowden was 91 when he died in August 2021.

Sen. Corey Simon, a Tallahassee Republican who was a defensive lineman for FSU’s 1999 national championship winning team, described Bowden as more than a football coach.

“Coach is what he did part-time,” Simon said. “He was dad to a lot of players like myself, because there was never a time that I couldn’t walk into his office and talk about issues that I was going through. Family issues. And he would listen.”