Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Schwarzenegger Signs Surplus Line Bill Into Law
Sep 29 2010 // California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed AB 1708 (Villines) into law, requiring the total capital and surplus requirements for nonadmitted insurers in California to be at least $45 million, up from $15 million. The...
Medical Benefits Biggest Cost in Calif. Workers’ Comp System
Sep 28 2010 // The sagging economy took a toll on California’s covered work force and payroll in 2008, but the California workers’ compensation system remains the largest in the United States, accounting for more than 1 out...
Garcia Joins California’s CompPartners
Sep 28 2010 // Gina M. Garcia has joined Irvine, Calif.-based CompPartners, a workers’ compensation, disability, and group health managed care organization, as manager of PPO networks. Garcia develops boutique networks customized...
Schwarzenegger Extends Calif. Low Cost Auto Insurance Program
Sep 28 2010 // Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation – AB 1597 authored by Assemblyman Dave Jones to maintain California’s innovative auto insurance program for low-income Californians with good driving...
California Modifies Privacy Regulations, Makes Insurance Shopping Easier
Sep 27 2010 // In what’s being called “a major victory for insurance agents and brokers,” the California Department of Insurance has notified the California Office of Administrative Law of its intention to repeal...
CEA Aims to Improve Value, Affordability of Calif. Earthquake Insurance
Sep 27 2010 // Californians might have more reason to retrofit their homes to better withstand a major earthquake, thanks to a recently adopted building code for retrofitting existing structures. The standard, approved in August by the...
Toyota Settles Suit Over High-Profile California Crash
Sep 21 2010 // Toyota Motor Corp. has settled what is widely regarded as the most serious lawsuit of the hundreds of claims the automaker faces. The company has agreed to settle the suit brought by relatives of four family members killed...
Agents to Calif. State Fund: Please Pay Commissions
Sep 17 2010 // Insurance agents and brokers want the California State Compensation Insurance Fund to change its broker of service policy and instead recognize broker of record (BOR) letters. While the policy not to recognize BOR letters...
Calif. Rating Bureau Wants to Lower Recommended Workers’ Comp Rate 2%
Sep 16 2010 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California announced it will be amending its recommended rate filing to the state insurance commissioner, recommending a 27.7 percent increase in the claim cost...
Aging Gas Pipe at Risk of Explosion Nationwide
Sep 16 2010 // The tragic gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb has shed light on a problem usually kept underground: Communities have expanded over pipes built decades earlier when no one lived there. Utilities have been...
California State Fund Records $143M in 2009 Net Income
Sep 14 2010 // State Compensation Insurance Fund today announced it earned $143 million in net income in 2009, up from $75 million for the prior year. In its 2009 Annual Report, the company noted it has an increase of $161 million in...
Redwoods Leavitt Insurance Agency Formed in California
Sep 14 2010 // The Crescent City, Calif., and Grants Pass, Ore., locations of NorthWest Insurance Agency have joined the Leavitt Group to form Redwoods Leavitt Insurance Agency based in Crescent City, Calif. Bill Cochran is the managing...
California Workers’ Compensation Institute Assists With Posting Requirements
Sep 13 2010 // The California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI) announced it has newly revised DWC-1 claim form/Notice of Potential Eligibility (NOPE), as well as English and Spanish versions of its new hire pamphlet (Facts...
California Processes 15.5% Fewer Surplus Line Premiums
Sep 8 2010 // The Surplus Line Association of California has processed $1.9 billion in premium for the first six months of 2010, a decrease of 15.5 percent compared to the same period in 2009. The total number of policies filed with the...
Calif. Workers’ Comp Insurance Rating Bureau Wants 30% Rate Increase
Sep 6 2010 // As expected, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California has submitted a pure premium rate filing to the California Insurance Commissioner recommending a 29.6 percent increase in pure premium...
Business Moves
Sep 6 2010 // Raintree Insurance, PacWest Alliance PacWest Alliance Insurance Services Inc. welcomed its newest member: Raintree Insurance Agency Inc. Raintree Insurance Agency is an independent insurance agency with offices in San...
California Appeals Court Upholds Guzman Workers’ Comp Decision
Sep 6 2010 // California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal has affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board decision in Milpitas Unified School District v. WCAB and Joyce Guzman, allowing physicians to apply any part of...
Northern Calif. Shakes in 3.3 Magnitude Earthquake
Sep 2 2010 // Northern California experienced mild shaking when a 3.3 magnitude earthquake struck the San Pablo, Calif., area at 9:35 a.m. this morning. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake, which occurred on the...
Calif. Legislature Addresses Workers’ Comp Measures
Sep 1 2010 // The California Legislature took action on several workers’ compensation measures recently, passing bills that, among others, would extend death benefits until the youngest child reaches 19 if the parent died while...
Study: Compound Drugs, Co-Packs Increase Calif. Workers’ Comp Costs
Aug 31 2010 // The use of compound drugs, medical foods, and so-called convenience packs that combine prescription drugs and medical foods, increased dramatically in the second quarter of 2007 — driving up costs in the...
