Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
MetLife Decides to Spinoff U.S. Retail Division
Oct 6 2016 // MetLife Inc. has filed for a spinoff of a U.S. retail unit after considering alternate plans to sell the business or exit through an initial public offering. At least 80.1 percent of the shares in the unit, Brighthouse...
Lien Consolidation Court, Fraud Part of Focus at California Comp Conference
Oct 5 2016 // The state’s top two labor officials were understandably high on the impact they expect two bills recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown will have on California’s workers’ comp system and bad actors who have...
New Jersey Train Engineer Says He Can’t Remember Crash
Oct 5 2016 // The engineer at the controls of the train that smashed into a commuter rail terminal, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 people, told federal investigators he was going only 10 mph as he approached the station but...
U.S. Sees Automakers Complying with Voluntary Guidelines for Autonomous Vehicles
Oct 5 2016 // U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told Reuters he expects automakers and tech companies will comply with voluntary guidelines his department issued last month for autonomous vehicles. The National Highway Traffic...
New Mexico Regulator Seeks More Time to go after Back Taxes from Insures
Oct 3 2016 // New Mexico’s superintendent of insurance pleaded Wednesday for more time to recover unpaid taxes on insurance premiums and investigate at least one company, after an outside audit uncovered $193 million in...
Judge May Split Anthem-Cigna Merger Trial into Two Parts
Oct 3 2016 // The judge who will rule on whether the government may stop health insurer Anthem from buying competitor Cigna said Friday that she was considering splitting the trial into phases. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S....
Widow Sues Saudi Arabia for Sept. 11 Attacks Under New Law
Oct 3 2016 // A woman widowed when her husband was killed at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 sued the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia just two days after Congress enacted legislation allowing Americans to sue foreign governments for allegedly...
Auditor Says Kentucky Misused State Insurance Tax Funds
Oct 3 2016 // The Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund is supposed to be spent on training for police officers. But state lawmakers have raided its coffers for other purposes so often it forced officials to increase a tax on...
New York Proposes Cybersecurity Regulation for Insurers, Banks
Oct 3 2016 // The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has proposed cybersecurity regulation for financial services companies that aims to protect New York state’s financial services industry from an increasing...
Report: Alabama No. 1 in Country for Prescription Opioid Use
Oct 3 2016 // Alabama has the highest level of prescription opioid use in the country, and companies that make the painkillers and their allies have hired an average of 18 lobbyists annually in the state since 2006 to push their...
West Virginia Lawmakers Approve $85M in Flood Relief
Oct 3 2016 // West Virginia lawmakers addressed recovery costs from deadly floods in June in a brief session last month. The Senate adjourned Sept. 20 after a two-day session that also included the confirmation of gubernatorial...
Insurance Implications of Autonomous Vehicle Rollout
Oct 3 2016 // California is no longer the heartland for testing autonomous cars. The first commercial deployment of self-driving cars in the U.S. is already happening in Pittsburgh, where Uber is offering its customers the opportunity...
Maryland’s Amended Premium Increase Notice Requirement to Take Effect
Sep 30 2016 // The reenacted Maryland Insurance Article set to take effect on Saturday, Oct. 1, is expected to lift the administrative burden and lack of clarity caused by mandatory notification of minor premium increases, according to a...
Insurer Groups’ Supported Bills Signed into law by California Governor
Sep 29 2016 // Two insurance groups praised California Gov. Jerry Brown over his signing on various insurance-related legislation. Brown recently approved legislation co-sponsored by the Association of California Insurance Companies to...
Senate, House Override President’s Veto of Saudi Arabia 9/11 Lawsuit Bill
Sep 28 2016 // Congress turned aside a last-ditch lobbying effort by the White House and Saudi Arabia Wednesday and overrode President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill that would allow the kingdom to be sued for involvement in the...
Firms Should Look Closely at Data Practices, New York Conference Panelists Say
Sep 28 2016 // Panelists at the 2016 Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) Cyber Liability Symposium held Tuesday at the Hilton Midtown in New York City urged companies to take a closer look at data aggregation practices as...
Florida Approves 14.5% Workers’ Comp Rate Hike in Response to Court Rulings
Sep 27 2016 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has given contingent approval for an overall statewide workers’ compensation rate increase of 14.5 percent to take effect Dec. 1, 2016. The rate increase is in...
Insurers Encouraged by Latest Round of Covered Agreement Talks
Sep 27 2016 // Insurers say they are encouraged by the most recent developments in the covered re/insurance agreement negotiations between the United States and European Commission. Following the latest round of the talks, held Sept....
Presidential Veto of 9/11 Saudi Arabia Lawsuit Bill Faces Possible Override
Sep 25 2016 // President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed legislation allowing families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia, which could prompt Congress to overturn his decision with a rare veto override, the first of his...
Demand for Environmental Impairment Liability Cover Rises in Europe: Marsh
Sep 23 2016 // There has been a marked increase in the number of companies purchasing environmental impairment liability (EIL) cover across Europe in recent years, mainly due to an increase in regulation and buyer awareness, according to...