Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
New Oklahoma Texting Law Now in Effect
Nov 3 2015 // A new law making it illegal to text and drive in Oklahoma has received plenty of attention, but it’s just one of more than 250 laws enacted on Nov. 1. People caught reading or writing texts or emails while driving...
Florida DMV Requests Dismissal of Taxi Companies’ Rideshare Complaint
Nov 2 2015 // In a move that is sure to further frustrate Florida taxicab companies, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FDHSMV) has asked a Leon County, Florida, judge to dismiss a complaint requiring the state...
Florida Beach City Businesses Say Spring Break Ban Violates Civil Rights
Nov 2 2015 // Several Panama City Beach, Fla., nightclub owners argue in a lawsuit filed Oct. 30 that local officials violated their rights and showed racial bias when they approved a series of new ordinances designed to curb spring...
Massachusetts OKs USAA’s Rideshare Gap Policy
Nov 2 2015 // Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and the Division of Insurance announced on Oct. 19 that the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) has been approved to offer additional “gap protection” coverage to its...
Judge Tosses Concussions Lawsuit Against Illinois Prep Group
Oct 30 2015 // An Illinois judge has dismissed the nation’s first class-action concussions lawsuit against a prep sports governing body, saying the Illinois High School Association has taken steps to make football safer and that...
North Dakota Lawmakers Criticize Proposed $3B Crop Insurance Cut
Oct 29 2015 // North Dakota’s congressional delegation and others from the state say a proposed $3 billion cut to crop insurance is unacceptable. A two-year budget deal in Congress would reduce federal subsidies to companies that...
Judge Orders Wyoming Restaurant to Pay $11.4M in Salmonella Case
Oct 29 2015 // A judge has ordered a Cheyenne, Wyo. restaurant to pay a Nebraska couple nearly $11.4 million after the husband contracted salmonella poisoning. The Casper Star-Tribune reported Christopher Gage and his wife, Heather, sued...
Budget Deal Called ‘Devastating’ to Crop Insurance
Oct 29 2015 // The two-year budget deal produces savings from one of the most popular programs in farm country — federally subsidized crop insurance — and farm state lawmakers are furious. Senators and House members said Tuesday they...
Judge Rules Lawyer’s Traffic School in Louisville Unconstitutional
Oct 29 2015 // A judge in Louisville has ruled that a local traffic school program run by the Jefferson County Attorney’s office is unconstitutional. Judge Sean Delahanty ruled the state law allowing such programs “is a...
Activist Paulson Joins Icahn’s Call to Break Up AIG
Oct 28 2015 // Activist investor Carl Icahn said he owns a “large stake” in American International Group Inc. and urged the insurer to spin off its life and mortgage units into public companies to avoid being tagged as a...
Top Insurance Lobbyists on Capitol Hill
Oct 28 2015 // The Hill, a popular Capitol Hill insider publication with political news and opinions, has placed five insurance groups and their lobbyists on its 2015 list of the top lobbyists in Washington for associations. The...
Premiums on New Jersey Health Exchange Rising 5%
Oct 28 2015 // The premium for a mid-level plan offered on the federal government’s health insurance exchange will be up by 5 percent in New Jersey in 2016. But premiums will be lower, as expected, for people choosing a new plan...
Indiana Judge OKs Facebook Messages in Marina Fire Trial
Oct 28 2015 // A judge has declined to prevent private Facebook messages from being considered during a trial of two people charged in an Evansville, Ind., marina fire. The Evansville Courier & Press reports the judge denied the...
House Votes to Extend Transportation Funding, Railway Safety Deadline
Oct 28 2015 // The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill to keep federal funds flowing to road and bridge construction projects into late November, while also extending a key rail safety deadline to the end of 2018. In...
Judge Claims Regulators Not Enforcing Duke Coal Ash Clean-Up in North Carolina
Oct 27 2015 // North Carolina’s environmental watchdog agency has not been trying very hard to force Duke Energy to clean up toxic groundwater pollution near a coal-burning power plant where neighbors can’t drink their well...
N.J. Lawmakers: FEMA Maps May Have Exaggerated Flood Risk Across State
Oct 26 2015 // New Jersey’s Congressional delegation members sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Oct. 23, expressing “significant concerns with the methodology” of the Flood Insurance Rate...
House May Attempt to Revive Export-Import Bank
Oct 26 2015 // U.S. lawmakers will begin voting on Monday on legislation to revive the shuttered Export-Import Bank, a spokeswoman for a leading Republican backer of the bank said on Friday. A so-called “discharge petition,”...
Judge Dismisses Facebook Tracking Suit; Finds No ‘Realistic Harm’
Oct 26 2015 // Facebook Inc. won dismissal of a $15 billion lawsuit accusing the company of secretly tracking the Internet activity of its users after they log off. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila in San Jose, California, on Friday...
N.Y. Gov. Cuomo Calls for Statewide Licensing System for Uber, Lyft
Oct 23 2015 // New York’s governor says he’s in favor of a statewide licensing system for Uber and Lyft as the two app-based car services look to expand throughout the state. Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Wednesday that a...
Atlanta Judge Dismisses Sperm Donor Misrepresentation Suit
Oct 22 2015 // A judge in Atlanta has tossed out a lawsuit accusing a sperm bank and sperm donor of misrepresenting the medical and social history of the donor. Angela Collins and Margaret Elizabeth Hanson, who live in Canada, filed the...
