Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Judge Rules State’s Smokable Medical Marijuana Ban Unconstitutional
May 29 2018 // Florida’s ban that prevents medical marijuana patients from smoking their cannabis has gone up in smoke. Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers on Friday ruled that a state’s ban on smokable cannabis is...
Illinois Lawmakers Send Governor Bill Legalizing Industrial Hemp
May 25 2018 // The Illinois House has sent the governor a measure legalizing industrial hemp. The House voted 106-3 this week to allow hemp cultivation for commercial use. Hemp is a form of the cannabis plant distinct from marijuana. It...
GDPR Day 1: Wake-Up Call for Many; Media Sites Shut EU Access
May 25 2018 // New European privacy regulations went into effect on Friday that will force companies to be more attentive to how they handle customer data. The ramifications were visible from day one, with major U.S.-media outlets...
GDPR Day 1: A New Era in Data Privacy Begins
May 25 2018 // From tech giant Facebook Inc. to libraries and schools, organizations are now subject to the world’s most far-reaching data privacy regulation in a crackdown aimed at protecting people from losing control over their...
Microsoft to Extend EU Data Privacy Rights Globally. Facebook, Google Not Quite.
May 24 2018 // Microsoft promised this week to give users worldwide the same data and privacy rights Europeans will get under new regulations there. That’s in contrast to some of its tech rivals, who are hedging on how much privacy...
How Data Privacy Laws Could Hamper Insurance Underwriting
May 24 2018 // Complying with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation is leading insurers and reinsurers to dilute the types of data they gather—something that could diminish underwriting quality, A.M. Best...
North Carolina Judge Awards $4.7M to Family of Man Killed Outside Strip Club
May 24 2018 // The family of a man shot to death outside a strip club in North Carolina has been awarded nearly $5 million from the operators of the club. The Winston-Salem Journal reported a judge granted a default judgment Monday...
Insurers Welcome Global Regulation Provision in Banking Reform Bill
May 23 2018 // The financial services regulatory reform measure passed by Congress yesterday, which contains parts of more than 25 different bills, includes a provision on international insurance regulation that is being met with cheers...
What Banks Got, Did Not Get in Dodd Frank Rewrite Passed by Congress
May 23 2018 // Congress on Tuesday rolled back some of the restraints imposed on banks after the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, but big players like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, will not be breaking out the...
California Workers’ Comp Directors and Officers Cleanup Law Takes Effect July 1
May 22 2018 // A new law that enables corporate directors and officers owning at least 10 percent of a business to opt out of workers’ compensation coverage goes into effect on July 1. The law is intended to reduce the threshold of...
House Set to Vote on Dodd-Frank Rollback Today
May 22 2018 // U.S. lawmakers are set to give President Donald Trump a chance to make good on his vow to “do a big number” on the Dodd-Frank Act. Legislation set for passage by the Republican-dominated House this week is the...
Europe’s New Data Privacy Law Boosts Cyber Insurance Sales
May 22 2018 // Data privacy rules coming into force this week are giving Europe’s fledgling cyber insurance market a boost as they make companies more aware of the risks caused by customer information breaches. Europe’s...
Supreme Court Backs Employers on Forced Arbitration, Limiting Employee Class Actions
May 21 2018 // A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers can force workers to use individual arbitration instead of class-action lawsuits to press legal claims. The decision potentially limits the rights of tens of millions of...
California Legislation Aims to Clarify Mudslide Insurance
May 21 2018 // The California Senate has approved legislation that seeks to clarify homeowners’ insurance coverage following deadly mudslides near Santa Barbara. Insurance policies generally cover damage caused by fires but not by...
PG&E Judge Won’t Rule Out California Fire Cost Claim
May 21 2018 // PG&E Corp. suffered another legal setback with a judge saying he won’t release the company from a key legal claim over the most destructive wildfires in California history. PG&E has been challenging a...
Gun Lobby Seeks Lending Curbs on ‘Gun-Hating’ Banks
May 21 2018 // The U.S. gun lobby is taking aim at “gun-hating” banks after Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America said they would no longer provide certain banking services to gun-makers, according to industry lobbyists. The...
Data Privacy Risks as Digital Identity Moves to Biometrics, Blockchain
May 21 2018 // A retail store’s ability to authenticate customers by scanning their unique ear or retinal patterns may seem like something out of a sci-fi movie, but this type of identification technology isn’t...
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill
May 21 2018 // Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be prescribed...
California Commissioner Ran a Climate Change ‘Stress Test’ on Insurers
May 21 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has run a “stress test” on the state’s largest insurers. Jones said during a press conference in May that he is the first U.S. financial regulator to conduct a...
House Rejects Farm Bill
May 18 2018 // The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a sweeping $867 billion farm bill on Friday after Republican leaders failed to appease conservative lawmakers who had asked them not to hold the vote until they were given the...
