Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Study: Texting Bans Don’t Reduce Crashes
Dec 17 2010 // It’s illegal to text while driving in most U.S. states yet a new study finds such bans do not reduce car accidents and may actually increase insurance claims. Researchers at the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI)...
California and Feds Sign Earthquake Plan
Dec 16 2010 // California and federal emergency responders have signed a plan designed to respond to a disastrous earthquake in Southern California. A similar state-federal pact was developed two years ago for dealing with a quake in...
Calif. Commissioner Removes 4 From Barred Iran Investments List
Dec 15 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that the California Department of Insurance (CDI) has removed Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), Shell International Finance (Netherlands), Total SA (France), and...
Dec. 15 Most Dangerous Day for California Drivers
Dec 14 2010 // More Californians crash their cars on December 15 than any other day of the year, according to an Allstate Insurance Co. review of its California auto insurance claims over the past four years. The number of accident...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Indemnity Claim Costs Significantly Higher
Dec 14 2010 // California’s workers’ comp insurers wrote approximately 10 percent more premium the first nine months of 2010 compared to 2009, according to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of...
Appeals Court in California Reverses Itself in Armenian Insurance Suit
Dec 13 2010 // A federal appeals court last Friday reversed itself and now says the heirs of Armenians killed in the Turkish Ottoman Empire can seek payment from companies that sold their relatives life insurance. The 9th U.S. Circuit...
Calif. Assemblyman Villines to Serve on Flood Protection Board
Dec 9 2010 // Calif. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed former Assembly minority leader Michael Villines to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board Villines lost a bid for state insurance commissioner last month. The new...
Cal/OSHA Implements Updated Heat Safety Regulations
Dec 9 2010 // Cal/OSHA has implmented a new standard to protect employees who work with diacetyl, a chemical commonly used to give food flavorings a buttery taste. Cal/OSHA, a division of the California Department of Industrial...
Calif. State Fund Consolidating Business Operations
Dec 9 2010 // California State Compensation Insurance Fund, the state’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance, announced it is consolidating its business operations, a move it expects will save nearly $200...
Mercury Insurance Cuts Calif. Auto Rates About 10%
Dec 9 2010 // Mercury Insurance announced a $72-million rate reduction for California drivers that includes a rate decrease that could reach up to 10% or more, a new group affiliation discount for university alumni, and the inclusion of...
California Employers See Lower Ex-Mods With New Rating Formula
Dec 8 2010 // California employers, by and large, saw lower experience modifications in 2010, thanks to changes to the experience rating formula. On Nov. 9, 2009, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner issued a decision...
Calif. Division of Workers’ Comp Names Appointees to Ethics Advisory Committee
Dec 8 2010 // California Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) acting Administrative Director Carrie Nevans has appointed the Hon. Alice Vilardi as chair of the workers’ compensation ethics advisory committee, and...
Calif. Insurance Regulator Highlights His Achievements
Dec 7 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has issued a report card highlighting the progress of the Department of Insurance during the past four years, including his successful efforts to maintain solvency and...
Insurance Industry Outlook Improving, Slightly
Dec 6 2010 // The insurance industry is recovering from the economic crisis, but profits are nowhere near where they were prior to the crisis, and it will take California longer than other states to rebound, according to an industry...
California Self-Insured Group Declared in Default
Dec 5 2010 // The Contractors Access Program of California (CAP), a self insured group, has been declared in default due to insufficient funding required for continued operation, California’s Department of Industrial Relations...
Calif. Commissioner Rejects Increase in Workers’ Comp Cost Benchmark
Dec 5 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has rejected – for the third consecutive time – a workers’ comp rate filing submitted on behalf of insurers by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance...
California Delays Licensing Implementation Six Months
Dec 5 2010 // The California Department of Insurance is delaying for six months the implementation of a new licensing requirement for fire and casualty licensees that want to sell health insurance. AB 2782 would have required existing...
Brown & Brown Acquires Ruland & Mattingley Insurance Services Assets
Dec 2 2010 // C. Roy Bridges, regional president of Daytona Beach, Fla.-based Brown & Brown Inc. and Lloyd S. Ruland III and Philip M. Ruland, shareholders of Ruland & Mattingley Insurance Services Inc. of Laguna Hills, Calif.,...
California Approves Pay-As-You-Drive Insurance Programs
Dec 2 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has approved filings by the Automobile Club of Southern California and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance to offer pay-as-you-drive insurance. The PAYD Insurance program...
Calif. Regulators Announce 2011 Workers’ Comp Assessment Rates
Nov 30 2010 // The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has calculated the 2011 assessments that state law requires workers’ compensation insurers collect from policyholders to cover the budget of the state Division...
