Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
South Central Regulation Report Card: Texas’ Grade Rises, Arkansas’ Drops
Jan 9 2017 // No South Central state had the best score and none had the worst in a report recently released by a conservative-leaning research organization that annually assesses the effectiveness states’ insurance regulatory...
East Regulation Report Card: Vermont Ranks Best for 3rd Straight Year
Jan 9 2017 // The R Street Institute, an industry think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., found Vermont has the best insurance regulatory environment in the U.S. for the third straight year in its annual Insurance Regulation...
California DIR Releases Overview of New Laws
Jan 9 2017 // The California Department of Industrial Relations released its 2016 Legislative Digest, which summarizes new laws that impact workers and employers. Most of the chaptered bills took effect on Jan. 1. Highlights of those...
West Regulation Report Card: California Most Politicized State
Jan 9 2017 // A report gives California’s insurance regulatory environment low marks for auto body repair rules, the insurance commissioner’s call for insurers to divest from coal, its prior approval law and being the...
Federal Insurance Chief McRaith Leaving Post on Jan. 20
Jan 6 2017 // Michael McRaith, who has served as director the Federal Insurance Office since its creation in 2011, is resigning his post as of Jan. 20. as the Trump Administration begins. McRaith announced his plan to leave the agency...
Judge Rules VW Must Face U.S. Investor Lawsuit Over Diesel Scandal
Jan 6 2017 // Volkswagen AG and former Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn must defend an investor lawsuit in California over the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal, a U.S. judge has ruled. The plaintiffs, mostly...
Judge: Company May Reopen Ohio Brine Injection Well
Jan 5 2017 // The pumping of waste from hydraulic fracturing operations into a closed Ohio injection well is expected to resume after a judge’s ruling that the state’s oil-and-gas regulator failed to consider a new plan...
Texas Lawmakers to Seek Transparency in Government/Private Business Deals
Jan 5 2017 // Two Texas lawmakers want to tighten public records laws to make it harder for governments and the companies they do business with to keep financial information secret. Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat, and GOP Rep....
Pennsylvania Court Rules in Favor of Evanston Insurance, Cites Policy Exclusion
Jan 5 2017 // The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in December ruled that Evanston Insurance Company is not obligated to defend Tri-Arc Financial Services Inc. in an underlying lawsuit because of an...
Utah Could Have Strictest DUI Limit in U.S. Under This Proposal
Jan 5 2017 // A state lawmaker wants to make Utah’s DUI threshold the strictest in the nation by lowering the blood-alcohol content limit to 0.05 percent. Though state numbers show alcohol-related driving deaths and DUI arrests...
Judge Halves Jury’s $1 Billion Punitive Damages Award in J&J Hip Implant Case
Jan 4 2017 // Johnson & Johnson won a ruling cutting almost in half a $1.04 billion jury award to patients who accused the company of hiding defects in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed. A judge on...
Florida Judge Finds Pollution Notification Rule is Invalid
Jan 4 2017 // A Florida judge says a rule requiring companies to notify the public of pollution events within 24 hours is invalid. The new rule was pushed by Gov. Rick Scott after it took weeks for the public to be notified about a...
New York Issues First-in-Nation Regulation on Commercial Crime Insurance
Jan 3 2017 // New York State’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) in December issued a new regulation that prohibits insurance companies from denying commercial crime insurance coverage to New York businesses employing people...
Newest Big Thing in Drones Is Technology to Block Them
Jan 3 2017 // A boom in consumer drone sales has spawned a counter-industry of start-ups aiming to stop drones flying where they shouldn’t by disabling them or knocking them out of the sky. Dozens of start-up firms are developing...
Texas Mutual: Judge Upholds State Regulation of Air Ambulances
Dec 30 2016 // A Texas district court judge in Austin has upheld the state’s right to regulate fees paid to air ambulances for transporting patients covered by workers’ compensation insurance, according to Texas Mutual...
Chinese M&A to Continue Despite Regulatory, Policy Hurdles: A.M. Best
Dec 30 2016 // While Chinese companies have been increasing their overseas merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in recent years, there are signs that growth could slow in the coming year, as a result of uncertain economic outlook...
Republicans Ready to Repeal Obamacare, Work Out Replacement Later
Dec 30 2016 // The first major act of the unified Republican government in 2017 will be a vote in Congress to begin tearing down Obamacare. But the euphoria of finally acting on a long-sought goal will quickly give way to the reality...
California DIR Releases Overview of Upcoming New Laws
Dec 29 2016 // The California Department of Industrial Relations has released its 2016 Legislative Digest, which summarizes new laws that impact workers and employers. Most of the chaptered bills are slated to take effect on Jan. 1,...
Greenberg Traurig Adds Gausewitz to Insurance Regulatory Practice in California
Dec 29 2016 // Greenberg Traurig LLP has added Bill Gausewitz as a shareholder to its government law and policy and insurance regulatory and transactions practices in the firm’s Sacramento, Calif. office. Gausewitz focuses his...
Kansas Mom’s Medical Pot Suit Dismissed by Federal Judge
Dec 29 2016 // A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a western Kansas woman against the state and several agencies after her son was removed from her home in 2015 when he told school officials she used marijuana. Shona Banda,...
