Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Farmers Hire Dowsers To Find Water
Mar 3 2014 // With California in the grips of drought, farmers throughout the state are using a mysterious and some say foolhardy tool for locating underground water: dowsers, or water witches. Practitioners of dowsing use rudimentary...
‘Vulnerability’ in California Insurance Exchange
Feb 28 2014 // More than three months after it opened for business, California’s online health insurance marketplace had what federal officials described as a potential security flaw in its computer system and one that had already...
Consumer Watchdog in California Barks at Farmers
Feb 27 2014 // Consumer Watchdog has petitioned Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones a public hearing on the new program private passenger auto filings of Farmers Specialty Insurance Co. The Consumer Watchdog petition seeks to compel...
Sprint Corp. Sued Over Nude Photo Posting in California
Feb 27 2014 // A couple is suing Sprint Corp., claiming an employee posted their nude photos online. City News Service says Tuesday’s lawsuit in Los Angeles alleges invasion of privacy and identity theft. According to the suit, the...
CWCI and WCIRB: SB 863 Lowered Surgical Center Payments in California
Feb 26 2014 // Average facility fee payments to ambulatory surgery centers fell 26 percent per episode and 28 percent per procedure since fee schedule changes mandated by Senate Bill 863 were adopted last year. That’s according to...
California High Court Assigns Liability In Liquor Cases
Feb 26 2014 // California’s high court has ruled that hosts who charge admission to parties may be held legally responsible if a drunken underage guest is hurt or injures someone else. The state Supreme Court said in the unanimous...
California Carbon-Permit Auction Sees $330M Spent
Feb 26 2014 // State officials say California’s latest carbon-permit auction has raised nearly $330 million. The Sacramento Bee reported industrial firms and others bought emissions allowances that can be used this year and in...
California DWC Names Appointments to Ethics Advisory Committee
Feb 25 2014 // Paige Levy and Joyce Cram were appointed to serve as members of California’s Workers’ Compensation Ethics Advisory Committee. The appointments were made by Division of Workers’ Compensation Acting...
California Senator Pleads Not Guilty In Workers’ Comp Fraud Case
Feb 25 2014 // State Sen. Ron Calderon pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges that he accepted $100,000 in bribes in return for pushing legislation, charges that could send him to federal prison for years. Calderon, a member of a...
California Almond Farmers Face Tough Choices Amid Drought
Feb 24 2014 // With California’s agricultural heartland entrenched in drought, almond farmers are letting orchards dry up and in some cases making the tough call to have their trees torn out of the ground, leaving behind empty...
Surplus Line Association of California Names Chair, Board
Feb 24 2014 // The Surplus Line Association of California has elected Ian Fitt, CEO and chairman of Western Re/Managers Insurance Services Inc., chair of the SLA Executive Committee, the organization’s board of...
Business Moves
Feb 24 2014 // Kemper Corp. Kemper Corp. is realigning its property/casualty business. This realignment will result in one property/casualty segment for financial reporting purposes, beginning with the first quarter 2014. The new Kemper...
Agribusiness Insurance Segment Stable, Yet Selective
Feb 24 2014 // Crop insurance and farm bill debates have dominated the news headlines and led to uncertainty and frustration for many farm and ranchers, but insurance experts in the agribusiness industry say the property/casualty segment...
State Laws Complicate Data Breach Notification Policy
Feb 24 2014 // Data thefts at U.S. retailers have rekindled enthusiasm in Congress for a single federal law on how customers should be notified about such breaches, but those efforts face the same roadblock as in the past: dozens of...
Southern California’s Construction Sector Continues to Heat
Feb 24 2014 // Southern California’s construction sector continues to gain momentum, making good on positive outlooks issued late last year, and agents and brokers who deal in this segment can’t be any happier – especially...
California’s Mass of Insurance-Related Bills
Feb 24 2014 // There are a number of bills currently under consideration by California Legislature that may be of interest to agents, brokers and insurance professionals in general. Bills under consideration include everything from...
People – West
Feb 24 2014 // Arizona workers’ compensation insurance provider CopperPoint Mutual Insurance Co. named Rick Jones executive vice president and chief operating officer. CopperPoint is formerly SCF Arizona. Jones will be responsible...
California Legislator Indicted for Taking Bribes in Workers’ Comp Scheme
Feb 21 2014 // The Los Angeles Times is reporting that state Sen. Ron Calderon has been indicted in a corruption case and accused of taking about $100,000 in bribes from a hospital executive in Southern California who ran an alleged...
Former California State Fund Executive Fined for Conflict of Interest
Feb 21 2014 // A former top executive at California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund has admitted to charges of a conflict of interest in awarding contacts to a software firm while he was at State Fund, it was made public on...
California Bill Would Prevent Construction On Faults
Feb 21 2014 // A California Legislator on Friday introduced a bill that would prevent construction on seismic fissures. Senate Bill 1155 would mandate that developers and city officials treat an unzoned earthquake fault line just like a...
