Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
New Jersey Judge Says Lifeguard Can’t Be Sued Over Beach Collision
Jul 16 2019 // A New Jersey judge has ruled that a lifeguard who collided with a woman as he ran to cover a vacated lifeguard stand is protected by state’s Good Samaritan Act. The woman had sued North Wildwood, its beach patrol and...
Alphabet Has High Hopes for Its Drone Traffic Control App OpenSky
Jul 16 2019 // The company that brought you free digital maps and email wants to do the same thing for your drone. Wing LLC, an offshoot of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, on Tuesday unveiled a new app it calls OpenSky that it hopes will...
Court Rules Florida Medical Marijuana Regulations Are Unconstitutional
Jul 16 2019 // A Florida appellate court ruled that the state’s approach to regulating marijuana is unconstitutional, possibly allowing more providers to jump into a market positioned to become one of the country’s most...
Study Links Stricter Gun Laws to Lower Risk of Kids’ Deaths by Firearms
Jul 16 2019 // Children living in states with strict firearm laws are less likely to die from gun violence than those in states with more lax restrictions, according to a study in Pediatrics published Monday. The more rigorous the rules,...
Bayer Vows Appeal After Judge Cuts Roundup Jury Award to $25M from $80M
Jul 16 2019 // A federal judge on Monday slashed a damages award Bayer AG owed a California man who blamed Roundup weed killer for his cancer, to $25.27 million from $80.27 million, while rejecting the company’s bid for a new...
Missouri Governor Vetoes Repeal of Motorcycle Helmet Law
Jul 15 2019 // Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has vetoed a bill that would have allowed some motorcycle riders to drive without helmets, citing opposition to an unrelated provision in the measure. The legislation would have repealed...
House Democrats Eye Possible Ban on Big Tech Firms Offering Financial Services
Jul 15 2019 // A proposal to prevent big technology companies from functioning as financial institutions or issuing digital currencies has been circulated for discussion by the Democratic majority that leads the House Financial Services...
New Louisiana Rules for Self-Driving Trucks Effective Aug. 1
Jul 15 2019 // As companies work to design fleets of commercial trucks that won’t need a human in the driver’s seat, Louisiana lawmakers have written rules that self-driving vehicles will need to follow to truck commerce...
Wisconsin Court: Extra Insurance Not Needed for Enbridge Pipeline in Dane County
Jul 15 2019 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on June 27 that Canada-based Enbridge Energy doesn’t need to carry additional insurance for a pipeline project in Dane County, despite the local government’s insistence that it...
Texas Law Targets Surprise Medical Bills in Workers’ Comp
Jul 15 2019 // Texas lawmakers in the recent legislative session passed a bill addressing surprise medical bills injured employees have received after being treated at federal military facilities. Senate Bill 935 requires workers’...
Cyber Alert: New Era in Privacy Liability to Begin. California’s Data Privacy Law Could Be Game-Changer
Jul 15 2019 // As the nation’s most far-reaching data privacy law, California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), is set to begin Jan. 1, 2020, businesses and their insurers are preparing for a new era in cyber liability. Anxiety is on...
At NCOIL, Anti-Rebating Debate Ponders Fitbits and Free Turkeys
Jul 13 2019 // Is a free turkey a rebate? That was the question from Idaho Insurance Director Dean Cameron that stumped the experts. One of the more interesting debates of the National Council of Insurance Legislators’ summer...
California Legislators Approve $21 Billion Liability Fund for Utilities
Jul 12 2019 // California lawmakers approved legislation on Thursday to create a $21 billion fund to help utilities in the state pay for claims arising from future wildfires sparked by their equipment, tackling a top issue for the...
PG&E Pushes for Tax-Exempt Bond Bill for Fire Claims
Jul 12 2019 // PG&E Corp. is lobbying California legislators to allow it to issue tax-exempt bonds to help pay for past and future wildfire claims, according to people familiar with the matter. The bankrupt utility is pushing...
Landscape Changed for Kansas Medical Malpractice Suits with Court Ruling
Jul 12 2019 // Brenda Lundeen went in for routine surgery to relieve heavy periods. What the Overland Park mom and grade schoolteacher got was a nightmare, as a medical mistake caused 194-degree water to pour through a hole in her uterus...
Judge Wants PG&E to Respond to Report It Knew Faulty Lines Could Cause Wildfires
Jul 10 2019 // PG&E Corp. was ordered by a federal judge overseeing its probation to respond to a Wall Street Journal story claiming the utility knew its power lines could cause wildfires and failed to perform upgrades. PG&E...
California Wildfire ‘Bailout’ for PG&E, Edison Clears Hurdle
Jul 10 2019 // Utility giants PG&E Corp. and Edison International are one step closer to getting California’s help in covering the costs of increasingly catastrophic wildfires that their equipment keeps igniting. The state...
Judges Frustrated with Failure of Congress to Settle Obamacare Issues
Jul 10 2019 // The U.S. appeals court judges tasked with deciding the fate of the hot potato known as Obamacare had some choice words Tuesday for Congress and the Trump administration. “Why does Congress want the judiciary to be a...
Judge Likely to Reduce $80 Million Bayer Roundup Verdict
Jul 10 2019 // A federal judge said he’ll probably reduce — but not throw out entirely — an $80 million jury verdict against Bayer AG in the second case to go to trial over claims the company’s Roundup herbicide...
EU Judges Face Another Major Facebook Privacy Case from Activist Schrems
Jul 9 2019 // Five years ago, when activist Max Schrems took Facebook Inc. to the European Union’s top court no one knew what to call the case. The controversy, which led to judges scrapping a key trans-Atlantic data-transfer...
