Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Obama Administration Offers Birth Control Fix for Religious Groups
Aug 25 2014 // Seeking to quell a politically charged controversy, the Obama administration announced new measures Friday to allow religious nonprofits and some companies to opt out of paying for birth control for female employees while...
Judge Rebukes Whistleblower’s $265B Claim Against BP Over Gulf Safety
Aug 22 2014 // BP Plc won’t face a $256 billion lawsuit brought by a whistleblower who claimed the company’s Atlantis oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico was unsafe. Kenneth Abbott, a former BP contractor, and Food...
North Carolina Lawmakers Approve Law Regulating Duke’s Coal Ash Dumps
Aug 21 2014 // State House and Senate leaders said this week that they have reached a compromise on legislation to make Duke Energy curb pollution from its 33 coal ash dumps across North Carolina. House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate...
Florida Opens, Closes Surplus Lines Opportunities
Aug 20 2014 // The recent legislative session in Tallahassee was relatively quiet, a matter some attribute to this being an election year. But even in quiet years, Florida lawmakers tend to make some noise about the insurance industry...
Virginia Task Force to Target Worker Misclassification, Payroll Fraud
Aug 19 2014 // Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently signed an executive order establishing an inter-agency task force that will target worker misclassification and payroll fraud. “Every Virginian who works hard and follows the...
Appeal Expected Over Ruling Overturning Florida Workers’ Comp System
Aug 19 2014 // A Florida circuit court judge has ruled that the state’s workers’ compensation law is unconstitutional because it no longer provides adequate benefits to injured workers giving up their right to sue. Florida...
QBE to Sell $750 Million in Shares, Some Assets as Profit Drops
Aug 19 2014 // QBE Insurance Group Ltd. plans to raise about $750 million in a share placement and sell assets including part of its lenders’ mortgage insurance business in Australia after reporting an 18 percent drop in...
Texas Bill Would Delay New Rules on Storing Hazardous Chemicals
Aug 18 2014 // The massive fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people last year is unlikely to meaningfully change regulatory or safety rules in Texas until at least 2016 under a bill proposed by lawmakers tasked with scrutinizing...
Government Rescue Behind It, AIG Beefs Up Washington Lobbying Corps
Aug 17 2014 // Insurer American International Group is ramping up its lobbying team in Washington, almost six years after it halted such efforts following its rescue by the U.S. government during the financial crisis. Many large...
N.H. Insurance Department Appoints Financial Regulation Director
Aug 15 2014 // The New Hampshire Insurance Department recently appointed Deb Stone as director of financial regulation. Stone, who formerly served as an actuary and director of market regulation division at the Insurance Department,...
Judge Approves $48M Settlement Over Louisiana Sinkhole
Aug 15 2014 // A federal judge has granted final approval of a $48.1 million class-action settlement for Louisiana residents affected by a 37-acre sinkhole that opened two years ago has been swallowing land ever since. U.S. District...
FAA Ruling Grounds AirPooler’s Uber-Style Sharing in Air Travel
Aug 15 2014 // The trend in sharing services popularized by Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc. will take longer to gain a foothold in the world of aviation, if at all. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reviewed its rules and...
States Still Grappling with Surplus Lines Tax Sharing
Aug 15 2014 // Things have changed a bit for the surplus lines industry since the Non-admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act, (NRRA) part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform legislation, passed in 2010. The NRRA’s implementation has...
AIG’s 13-Year Wait Gets Longer as Modi Rebuffed: Corporate India
Aug 14 2014 // American International Group Inc. has waited 13 years in India to raise its stake in a local venture from a maximum allowed 26 percent. That wait is about to get longer. Opposition lawmakers, during the current session of...
Avon Mountain Crash Lawsuits Dismissed in Connecticut
Aug 13 2014 // The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Monday that victims of the 2005 fiery crash at the bottom of Avon Mountain that killed four people and injured 19 others cannot sue the state on allegations that Route 44 had a...
EC Consults on Functioning, Future of Insurance Anti-Trust Block Exemption
Aug 13 2014 // The European Commission (EC) has issued a questionnaire to seek the views of stakeholders on the functioning and the future of the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation (IBER), which exempts certain agreements between...
Maryland Lawmaker: Legislation on Web-Based Ridesharing Likely
Aug 12 2014 // A Maryland lawmaker says the Legislature and not the state Public Service Commission should come up with policies to regulate Web-based ride-sharing services like Uber, after the PSC ruled this week that such companies...
IRC: Uninsured Motorists a Perplexing, Pervasive Concern
Aug 12 2014 // A new report shows there hasn’t been much ground gained in the battle to reduce the number of uninsured motorists on the road, and there’s nowhere experts can point their fingers as an explanation of the...
California Judge Tosses Loral’s $283 Million Patent Infringement Loss
Aug 12 2014 // Loral Space & Communications Inc. won a reversal of a $283 million damages award against its former unit Space Systems/Loral, as the winning company, ViaSat Inc., sought a court order barring further patent...
Alabama Judge Dismisses Circumcision Malpractice Case
Aug 11 2014 // An Alabama law passed to rein in health care costs nearly three decades ago was at the heart of a judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit over what a man claims was a botched circumcision. Circuit Judge Jim Hughey III...
