Florida insurers handling salvage titles and certificates of destruction face new identity verification standards for electronic signatures starting July 1, 2026.
The change comes through CS/HB 961, an enrolled bill amending Section 319.30(3)(d) of the Florida Statutes. Sponsored by Rep. Jon Albert and Rep. Susan Valdes and advanced through the House Government Operations Subcommittee, the measure targets a narrow but routine corner of auto claims work: the odometer disclosures that insurers and their authorized agents submit electronically in connection with salvage certificates of title and certificates of destruction. The subject matter is technical, but the obligations land squarely on carriers and the agents acting on their behalf.
Until now, an electronic signature consistent with Florida's general electronic commerce law was enough to satisfy the signing requirement, with a specific carve-out requiring insurer-submitted odometer disclosures to use an electronic signature as defined in Section 668.003(4). The new law keeps that definition in place but layers additional controls on top of it.
Under the amended statute, insurance companies or their authorized agents must put in place control processes and procedures, acceptable to the department, that ensure adequate identity verification, preservation, disposition, integrity, security, confidentiality, and auditability of the electronic signature. In plain terms, carriers will need to be able to demonstrate how each signature was captured, verified, stored, and made available for audit.
The bill also points insurers to a specific technical benchmark. The systems used must meet the Identity Assurance Level, Authenticator Assurance Level, and Federation Assurance Level standards described in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-63-3, as of December 1, 2017, at Level 2 or greater for each. The requirement applies to electronic signatures used for both certificates of destruction and salvage certificates of title.
In practical terms, insurers operating in Florida and the agents handling salvage and destruction paperwork on their behalf will need to confirm that their electronic signature systems can meet those NIST assurance levels and that their internal controls around identity, recordkeeping, and auditability are documented in a form the department will accept.
The bill has been enrolled by the Florida Legislature and takes effect July 1, 2026. From that date, the upgraded standards will apply to any insurer or authorized agent processing salvage certificates of title or certificates of destruction in the state.
