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If you think the first half of 2008 was
interesting, wait until you see what will be happening in
the second half of 2008.
As many of know Rick Sanchez our founding President turned
over the leadership to Guy Brickman. Rick had set such a fast
pace and in addition to a good foundation for the new PAC
that is was very hard to follow. But since he is still totally
involved plus with the outstanding Directors of Manny Miranda,
Ellie Mills, Janet Fernandez and Steve Botkin we as a group
were able to get a lot accomplish. (We do have agencies to
run)
As mention in the past, it is most important
that we know where our company stands on issues so we are
not in conflict or put them or us in an uncomfortable position.
We have stood by this over the past year. Our position is
we must consider our clients (policyholders), our industry,
our company and the agents. We must actively impact legislation
to these ends.
Important meetings, which took place the first half of year:
- Several Board of Directors meetings.
- Met with Bill Roundtree, Mark Delegal,
Allen McGlynn, Barbara Carr and the entire FAPAN board setting
some guide lines for communications
- Broward Agents Meeting in April
and May, Added new agent to FAPAN
- Tallahassee trip during secession,
Rick Sanchez, Manny Miranda and Guy Brickman headed to the
Capital at 6am, Met with Mark Delegal (State Farm’s
lobbyist, went over details of the present insurance bill
being presented in the Senate, with talking points. Met
with FAPAN’s Consultant who set up 6 appointments
with Representatives and Senators during secession. The
day moved fast, during our short but important meetings
with each legislator we presented our case against/or for
individual part of the new insurance bill – We feel
it was well received and heard- The results show that we
did make a difference.
- West Palm Beach Agents meeting,
this was the first meeting in this area, we are hoping that
additional involvement will enable Palm Beach area to have
two directors.
- Conference Call during Secession every
Monday AM with State Farm Lobbyist (Mark Delegal), COFA
and FAPAN Directors.
- Ed Rust, many Florida agent met with
Ed during the SVP and Chairman Circle
- Ambassador Travel Cruise: Meeting
with Jim Rutrough, and members of COFA and FAPAN discuss
the Fire situation facing us in Florida.
- By Laws up dating: Enable us to communicate
faster and more effectively as a group.
- National Involvement: FAPAN
was involved in a Federal Bill being worked on at the present
time.
- Meetings are schedule early in July
to set up strategies in the upcoming election to supports
individual candidates. Do you know a Candidate?
I would personally Thank each agent
who stepped up to the plate financially and personally. I
would ask you at this time to call your fellow agent and ask
them to join and help support and protect their livelihood.
Guy Brickman, President
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Dear Fellow FAPAN Members,
Welcome to our second edition of the quarterly
bulletin! Due to the amount of legislative activity
and on going topics, we tried delaying it to include
as much relevant information as possible to bring you
up to date. For a full summary from FAPAN’s lobby
team, click “legislative summary” and read
all about it, we are sure you are going to be impressed
with all the activity and involvement over the past
few months.
Thank you for your interest! We constantly
receive emails and calls from members inquiring about
specific issues, because the legislative process and
positions change on a daily basis, it’s very difficult
to bring you up to date on a more frequent basis. Also,
when working with legislators and trying to coordinate
efforts with our company, much planning also goes into
this area.
Co-existing with our company:
Recently FAPAN board members once again met with executive
leadership to openly discuss how we can better work
together. As is the case with any new initiative, we’ll
continue to monitor and make adjustments along the way
that will enhance our approach and working relationship.
This has, “and will continue” to be a focal
point for FAPAN moving forward.
In picking up where we left off in our
first bulletin, we’ll address FAPAN
membership! To date, we now have 65 members
and approximately $150,000 in total contributions since
starting, compared to 40 members and $119,000 back in
March. Next on the agenda will be the Palm Beach area;
we’re currently working with our local leadership
in setting up one big meeting to address the county
and explain what FAPAN is all about, looking to drive
membership upward once again.
FAPAN Website:
Since going live, the FAPAN website has hosted over
hundreds of viewers from all over the state and outside
of Florida as well. Again, all of this with just over
3 months since the website went live.
Fundraiser Event:
Recently several FAPAN board members attended a major
fundraiser for the House Majority in Miami, Florida.
This presented an excellent opportunity for FAPAN to
strengthen legislative relationships. You know you’re
creating awareness when legislators are taking our FAPAN
members around the event introducing us to other key
legislators; again, all of this in only our first 6
months since starting. Just imagine the strong relationships
FAPAN will have looking ahead three to five years from
now; building these strong legislative relationships
is a top priority!
Future Fundraiser Events:
Plans are under way for FAPAN to put something together
for key legislators; we plan to work with both Democratic
and Republican Parties. You will be getting more information
regarding the upcoming events….
PIP Update: Where
are we today with PIP and the possible conversion to
a tort system? As you may know, both the House and Senate
are working around the clock to come to an agreement
on how to truly provide “meaningful reform”;
reform that will ultimately put a stop to the ramped
fraud and abuse.
PIP in its current form (in FAPAN’s
opinion) is no good! FAPAN’s position has always
been, “unless there can be meaningful reform,
we’d support Sunset”; coincidently,
many key legislators today share this same position.
Mandatory BI, is it possible?
Should PIP Sunset, many
legislators have shared with FAPAN they have a real
concern about having drivers on the street with NO insurance
and having responsible drivers picking up the bill.
This may be something on the horizon, which will bring
back the trial lawyers back into the game; something
PIP was meant to address. We’ll keep you posted
on any significant progress as it develops.
Difficult times can create
opportunities: Often times we look at a
given situation and see many different things. As colleague
agents, your FAPAN board asks that you remain positive
during these times; we further ask that you trust that
everything possible is being done to make Florida a
better place for our company to do business in; ultimately
benefiting our customer, company and agents! We further
suggest you work with local leadership in putting together
contingency plans and be proactive in your agencies
for whatever direction PIP should ultimately end up
going.
I personally want to thank our FAPAN board
members for serving, the countless hours and hard work
are making a major difference!
Together, as one voice, we can make a significant impact,
Rick Sanchez, President
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Greetings!
FAPAN is pleased to announce the rollout of it's website at
www.fapan.org Our website
will serve as a roadmap to our full suite of member benefits.
Whatever you're looking for in the political realm, FAPAN
will provide you with the information you need to stay ahead
politically and make sound business decisions. ** A special
thanks goes out to Lakitsia Gaines for putting in the time
that ultimately led to the final product!
You will notice that our website is transparent;
FAPAN feels it's important to keep our leadership informed
of our political engagement, which will ultimately lead to
working together and co-existing. It serves as a business
tool for members and leadership engaged in driving positive
change in the insurance and financial services industry, ultimately
benefiting our customers, our company and agents.
FAPAN's website provides many business uses, below
are just a few benefits we believe bring value:
* Finding your local officials, statutes and tracking important
bills that affect our industry
* Look up your representative's calendar
* Electronic completion of membership application
* Electronic financial contributions for dues and additional
donations
* Ability of using credit cards (Visa & MasterCard) for
dues and additional donations
* Ability to print member application and mail in hard copy
with check (If preferred as opposed to the e-app)
* Current listing of FAPAN members
* Current listing of the different FAPAN committees
* Archives of past communications to keep you up to date
* Ability to contact FAPAN through our website email
* Talking points on specific bills and issues (this section
will constantly change)
FAPAN invites you to contact us through the website at www.fapan.org
with your thoughts, suggestions, ideas and most of all, we
encourage you to become an active member of this agent driven
politically engaged group of independent State Farm agents.
So, please save www.fapan.org
as a favorite and check it out regularly. As FAPAN continues
to communicate with you, we will refer you to the site with
specifics on what to look for.
This is yet another step taken by FAPAN as we launch our initiative
to making a political difference in the Florida Zone! We started
only six months ago and the progress has been amazing….
Just think of the potential and political impact FAPAN will
have in 3, 5 and 10 years from today!
"Together, as one voice, we CAN make a significant
impact"
Yours truly,
Rick Sanchez, President
www.fapan.org
Welcome to the 1st edition of the FAPAN quarterly
bulletin! This is one of many communication tools we will
use to keep you informed.
Let’s start by sharing our current membership
status: Thanks to an overwhelming positive response, we have
over (40) Agent new members and over $119,000 in total contributions
since starting just a few months ago. These numbers reflect
largely a Miami-Dade County membership with approximately
25% of the newest agent members from Broward County. And we
continue to receive a steady flow of new membership applications.
Broward County Update: Janet Fernandez is currently
heading up our membership initiative and if things go according
to our projections, we can possibly see an additional (20
– 35) new members just from Broward County.
In total, our goal is to recruit (60 –
75) actively, engaged members for both Miami-Dade and Broward,
with a major increase in our financial position.
Where to next? FAPAN is now planning it’s
approach to extend membership to our Palm Beach and Melbourne
neighbors. We have spoken to our area VPA and are discussing
the best approach and venue to accomplish this. More to come
soon!
FAPAN Website as a business tool: We are proud
to share the great news that the FAPAN website will soon be
up and running; we are targeting mid-March 2007 (next month).
A lot of thought, work and time has gone into this and I am
sure you will be impressed to see just how comprehensive the
final product will be. A special thank you to Lakitisia Gaines,
she has been the driving member behind this initiative.
FAPAN Establishing Legislative Relationships:
During the week of February 26th – March 2nd, we will
be setting up individual appointments with legislators to
introduce FAPAN. Our goal is to get a sense of where they
stand on important issues so we can better formulate our positions
prior to the upcoming session. Since this will be the only
week legislators are in town, please try to make yourself
available for appointments. We will also work with local leadership
and keep them up to date on our activity.
Day On The Hill: FAPAN Board Members have discussed
our approach to DOH and it was decided we are not going to
attend. FAPAN feels we can make more of an impact in a local
and small group setting. However, if you would like to attend
DOH please let us know and FAPAN can provide you with some
key topics of discussion for your meetings. PLEASE NOTE THAT
SOME MEMBERS WILL BE ON STANDBY IF NEEDED TO ATTEND ANY LAST
MINUTE MEETINGS.
FAPAN Lobbyist Team: Our team of professionals
is already hard at work tracking bills that may affect our
customers, our company and our agencies. Many more bills will
surface as the session nears, and they will be keeping us
well informed as to what key legislators are sponsoring the
bills so we can formulate our strategic approach.
Subcommittees: Recognizing FAPAN will be a
major undertaking, subcommittees have been formed with members;
the different committees are (Finance, Key Contacts, Issues,
Membership & Communications). We thank all the members
for agreeing to serve for the remaining part of 2007.
“Together, as one voice, we can make a
significant impact.” Rick Sanchez, President
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