Case Name: FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMISSION and the Financial Services Commission, Office of Insurance Regulation, Appellants, v. The FLORIDA INSURANCE COUNCIL, INC., Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2006-08-15
Citations: 938 So. 2d 545
Docket Number: No. 1D05-4379
Parties: FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMISSION and the Financial Services Commission, Office of Insurance Regulation, Appellants, v. The FLORIDA INSURANCE COUNCIL, INC., Appellee.
Judges: KAHN, C.J., WEBSTER, and HAWKES, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 938
Pages: 545–546

Head Matter:
FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMISSION and the Financial Services Commission, Office of Insurance Regulation, Appellants, v. The FLORIDA INSURANCE COUNCIL, INC., Appellee.
No. 1D05-4379.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Aug. 15, 2006.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 28, 2006.
James H. Harris, Assistant General Counsel, Office of Insurance Regulation, Tallahassee, for Appellants.
Cynthia S. Tunnicliff and Brian A. Newman of Pennington, Moore, Wilkinson, Bell & Dunbar, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Appellants challenge a final order that found several of their proposed rules invalid exercises of delegated legislative authority pursuant to section 120.52(8)(a), Florida Statutes (2004), because they failed to follow applicable rulemaking procedures. Specifically, the Administrative Law Judge found the Financial Services Commission failed to fulfill its statutory duty under section 120.54(3)(a), Florida Statutes, as "agency head," to approve the proposed rules prior to their publication in the Florida Administrative Law Weekly. We affirm.
Section 20.121(3)(c), Florida Statutes, provides that the Commission is the "agency head" of the Department of Financial Services for purposes of rulemaking. The agency head is required by section 120.54(3)(a) to approve proposed rules pri- or to their publication in the Florida Law Weekly. Based on these statutes, the ALJ concluded the Commission had the duty to review and approve the content of the proposed rules at issue before providing notice of their adoption.
Appellants contend the Commission delegated this duty to the Office of Insurance Regulation (Office). However, the Legislature granted rulemaking authority only to the Commission and the Department of Financial Services. See § 624.308(1), Fla. Stat. Consequently, the ALJ properly concluded the Commission could not delegate its rulemaking authority to the Office.
Because the Commission failed to approve the proposed rules prior to their publication in the Florida Administrative Law Weekly, the proposed rules constitut ed an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority. The final order is AFFIRMED.
KAHN, C.J., WEBSTER, and HAWKES, JJ., concur.