Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
U.S. Spending Bill to End Oil Export Ban
Dec 21 2015 // Congress passed a $1.1 trillion spending measure that averts a U.S. government shutdown and ends a 40- year-old ban on crude oil exports, a plan that ensures fiscal peace in Congress through most of 2016. The Senate passed...
Top 5 Markets of 2015
Dec 21 2015 // There was no shortage of new products launched by the insurance industry in 2015. Cyber, a risk that has consistently seen a lot of activity over at least the last several years, continued to be on the top of the...
Regulators Focused on Product Innovation, Emerging Trends
Dec 21 2015 // State-based insurance regulation has a 145-year history of effectively and successfully protecting consumers and fostering competitive insurance markets. As the 2016 president of the National Association of Insurance...
Best, Worst States for Insurance Regulation
Dec 21 2015 // Vermont, Utah, Iowa, Virginia and Kentucky get an “A” and North Carolina an “F” in one think tank’s annual grading of states on how they regulate the property/casualty insurance industry. The...
Disruptive Change
Dec 21 2015 // U.S. property/casualty insurers should expect disruptive changes in a number of areas in 2016, including technology, pricing, customer demand and “heightened regulatory creep,” consultant Ernst & Young...
Uber Winning Support for Classifying Drivers as Contractors
Dec 21 2015 // State legislators in Ohio and Florida are moving ahead with regulations governing Uber and other ride services that would designate all drivers as independent contractors, bolstering a critical but much-disputed aspect of...
Judge in California Grants Class Action in Farmers Female Attorneys Suit
Dec 21 2015 // A U.S. District judge in California earlier this month granted class action status to a suit brought by female attorneys against Farmers Insurance for discriminatory practices. The initial suit was filed on behalf of Lynne...
Judge Bars Uber from Imposing New Contract on Drivers in Pay Suit
Dec 18 2015 // Uber Technologies Inc. was barred from imposing a new contract on drivers who are suing the company to be treated like employees after a federal judge said the reworded agreement is confusing. U.S. District Judge Edward...
U.K. Insurance Bill for Solvency II Regulation Compliance Hits $4.5 Billion
Dec 18 2015 // U.K. insurers have invested at least £3 billion ($4.5 billion) to be compliant with new European Union capital rules, known as Solvency II, that come into effect next month, according to an industry lobby group. More than...
Mass. Lawmakers Weigh 2-Tiered Driver’s License Identification System
Dec 17 2015 // Among the many issues that Massachusetts lawmakers may deal with after returning from recess in January is whether to bring the state into compliance with REAL ID, a federal program that sets new requirements for...
McCarty Receives ‘Insurance Man of the Year’ Award from LAAIA
Dec 17 2015 // Kevin McCarty Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin M. McCarty was presented with the Latin American Association of Insurance Agencies (LAAIA) “Insurance Man of the Year” Award on Dec. 4. According to the...
Talley Named Captive Program Manager at Missouri Insurance Department
Dec 16 2015 // The Missouri Department of Insurance has appointed John Talley as its new Captive Program Manager. Talley has nearly 25 years of insurance regulatory experience and was most recently chief of Captive Insurance Operations...
Commercial Broker Trade Group CIAB Adds 4 to Staff
Dec 16 2015 // The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) announced four additions to its association staff. John P. Fielding is joining as in-house general counsel. Fielding has spent the last nine years with the law firm...
How to Wrap That Toy Drone Christmas Gift in an Insurance Policy
Dec 15 2015 // The next wave of hobby drones will be wrapped in boxes underneath Christmas trees before they fill the skies. If industry sales projections come true, the holiday season will put tens of thousands of relative novices at...
Alabama City Approves Ridesharing Regulations
Dec 14 2015 // The ridesharing company Uber says it will soon begin operating in Birmingham, Ala., after city officials approved new regulations. Multiple media outlets report that city council members voted 7-1 on Dec. 8 to approve the...
U.S. Safety Agency Advocating Stronger Truck Rear-Impact Guards
Dec 14 2015 // The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing that trucking companies be required to install stronger guards on their trailers to reduce deaths caused when cars rear-end tractor trailers. The agency...
Uber Winning Support in States for Classifying Drivers as Contractors
Dec 11 2015 // State legislators in Ohio and Florida are moving ahead with regulations governing Uber and other ride services that would designate all drivers as independent contractors, bolstering a critical but much-disputed aspect of...
Florida Approves Removal of Up to 75,115 Policies from Citizens
Dec 11 2015 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved the removal of up to 72,534 personal residential policies and 2,581 commercial residential polices from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. The following...
Judge in California Grants Class Action Status in Farmers Female Attorneys Suit
Dec 10 2015 // A U.S. District judge in California has granted class action status to a suit brought by female attorneys against Farmers Insurance for discriminatory practices. The initial suit was filed on behalf of Lynne Coates, who...
Energy Companies Want Oklahoma Judge to Toss Earthquake Suit
Dec 10 2015 // Two energy companies asked a judge on Dec. 9 to throw out a lawsuit by an Oklahoma woman who claims she was injured in an earthquake caused by the injection of wastewater deep into the ground — a long-used method to...
