Florida SB 230: Unlicensed Contracting

Bill Text

230 
Transparency in Insurance Matters 
2025-10-17T04:35:16Z 
Defining the term “trade secret”; revising the requirements of a notice of trade secret submitted to the Office of Insurance Regulation or the Department of Financial Services; specifying that certain information is not a trade secret and is subject to public disclosure; requiring the office to review all claims of trade secret protection; requiring that fees, commissions, and profit-sharing agreements between insurers and affiliates be filed with the office and made publicly accessible on the department’s website, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 230 

 By Senator Smith 

 17-00288A-26 2026230__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to transparency in insurance matters; 
 3 amending s. 624.4213, F.S.; defining the term “trade 
 4 secret”; revising the requirements of a notice of 
 5 trade secret submitted to the Office of Insurance 
 6 Regulation or the Department of Financial Services; 
 7 specifying that certain information is not a trade 
 8 secret and is subject to public disclosure; requiring 
 9 the office to review all claims of trade secret 
 10 protection; requiring that certain claims of trade 
 11 secret protection be denied; requiring the office to 
 12 issue a written notice of denial of trade secret 
 13 protection under certain circumstances; requiring the 
 14 Financial Services Commission to contract with a 
 15 certain independent third-party entity for a specified 
 16 purpose; requiring that a certain reporting 
 17 requirement be included in the contract; providing 
 18 administrative fines; authorizing the office to 
 19 suspend or revoke a person’s certificate of authority 
 20 or license under certain circumstances; creating s. 
 21 624.4214, F.S.; requiring that fees, commissions, and 
 22 profit-sharing agreements between insurers and 
 23 affiliates be filed with the office and made publicly 
 24 accessible on the department’s website; providing an 
 25 effective date. 
 26 
 27 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 28 
 29 Section 1. Present subsections (1), (2), and (3) of section 
 30 624.4213, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (2), 
 31 (3), and (4), respectively, a new subsection (1) and subsections 
 32 (5) through (8) are added to that section, and present 
 33 subsection (1) of that section is amended, to read: 
 34 624.4213 Trade secret documents.— 
 35 (1) As used in this section, the term “trade secret” has 
 36 the same meaning as provided in s. 688.002. 
 37 (2)(1) If any person who is required to submit documents or 
 38 other information to the office or department pursuant to the 
 39 insurance code or by rule or order of the office, department, or 
 40 commission claims that such submission contains a trade secret, 
 41 such person may file with the office or department a notice of 
 42 trade secret as provided in this section. Failure to do so 
 43 constitutes a waiver of any claim by such person that the 
 44 document or information is a trade secret. 
 45 (a) Each page of such document or specific portion of a 
 46 document claimed to be a trade secret must be clearly marked as 
 47 “trade secret.” 
 48 (b) All material marked as a trade secret must be separated 
 49 from all non-trade secret material, such as being submitted in a 
 50 separate envelope clearly marked as “trade secret.” 
 51 (c) In submitting a notice of trade secret to the office or 
 52 department, the submitting party must include a sworn an 
 53 affidavit that includes all certifying under oath to the truth 
 54 of the following statements concerning all documents or 
 55 information that are claimed to be trade secrets: 
 56 1. The basis for the claim that the submission qualifies as 
 57 a trade secret. 
 58 2. A statement that all of the following are true: 
 59 a.1. ...(I consider/My company considers)... this 
 60 information a trade secret that has value and provides an 
 61 advantage or an opportunity to obtain an advantage over those 
 62 who do not know or use it. 
 63 b.2. ...(I have/My company has)... taken measures to 
 64 prevent the disclosure of the information to anyone other than 
 65 those who have been selected to have access for limited 
 66 purposes, and ...(I intend/my company intends)... to continue to 
 67 take such measures. 
 68 c.3. The information is not, and has not been, reasonably 
 69 obtainable without ...(my/our)... consent by other persons by 
 70 use of legitimate means. 
 71 d.4. The information is not publicly available elsewhere, 
 72 and the public release of such information would cause actual, 
 73 demonstrable harm to ...(me/my company).... 
 74 3. A summary prepared for the general public which 
 75 describes the nature of the submission claimed to be a trade 
 76 secret without disclosing the protected details of the 
 77 submission. 
 78 (5) The following informa