Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Maryland’s Chesapeake Employers: Business as Usual for Policyholders, Agents
Nov 1 2013 // Maryland’s largest writer of workers’ compensation insurance and the insurer of last resort adopted a new name and a new corporate structure in October. The 99-year-old Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund...
Lost Pheasants, Disappearing Grasslands: Is Crop Insurance to Blame?
Nov 1 2013 // The hunters tramp through neck-high prairie grass with a pair of golden retrievers named Moe and Buck, flushing out birds in a freezing autumn drizzle. When one flutters from the South Dakota grassland, Dick Schmith, 58,...
Judge Weighs Alabama City’s Case Over Police Officer’s Facebook Posts
Oct 31 2013 // A Dothan, Alabama judge is considering whether city officials acted appropriately in upholding disciplinary action against a police officer for Facebook posts she made. Circuit Judge Butch Binford heard arguments in the...
Insurance, Tax, Climate Groups Hit Possible Delay in Flood Insurance Changes
Oct 28 2013 // The prospect of a delay in flood insurance reforms that are raising premiums for many homeowners is being met with pushback from business, taxpayer and insurance groups. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the...
Bipartisan Deal Reached to Delay Flood Insurance Premium Hikes: Waters
Oct 28 2013 // Key House and Senate members have reached a bipartisan deal to delay changes to the federal flood insurance program that are raising premiums for many homeowners. The bill would require regulators to address affordability...
In Pennsylvania, New Legislation Allows Doctors to Apologize
Oct 25 2013 // A decade after a back-and-forth legislative battle that saw both doctors and lawyers visiting the state capitol by the hundreds – perhaps thousands – to argue for or against tort reforms that led to state law...
Texas DPS Touts Success of Border Crime, Vehicle Safety Initiative
Oct 25 2013 // The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced that a multi-agency law enforcement initiative, dubbed Operation Strong Safety, that targeted crime, unsafe commercial vehicles and unsafe driving practices has been...
Florida Court Lifts Ban on PIP Law But Challenge Continues
Oct 25 2013 // Florida’s no-fault automobile insurance law is fully in force for now after a district court lifted an injunction that blocked part of law on a legal technicality leaving open the possibility for further challenges...
Louisiana Lawmakers Urged to Act on Flood Insurance Rate Hikes
Oct 24 2013 // Louisiana lawmakers are being urged to reach out to their colleagues in other states, to draw more attention to dramatic rate increases in flood insurance costs around the nation. Don Cravins, chief of staff for U.S. Sen....
Arkansas Judge OKs Class-Action Status in Marlboro Lights Suit
Oct 24 2013 // A judge in Arkansas has granted class-action status to a lawsuit that claims Philip Morris USA deliberately exaggerated the safety of its Marlboro Lights cigarettes. Attorneys for Philip Morris had argued that any lawsuits...
Missouri Insurance Department Adds Lederer as Property/Casualty Actuary
Oct 24 2013 // The Missouri Department of Insurance announced that Julie Lederer has joined the department as the appointed Missouri property/casualty actuary. Lederer will support the Divisions of Insurance Company Regulation and...
North Carolina Captive Insurance Law Now in Effect
Oct 24 2013 // North Carolina is open for business as a domicile for captive insurance companies. The North Carolina Captive Insurance Act, signed into law on June 19, is now in effect, allowing for the formation of captive insurance...
Federal Court Rules Delaware Business Court’s Private Arbitration Is Unconstitutional
Oct 24 2013 // Delaware’s legal industry suffered a blow when a federal court found on Wednesday the state violated the U.S. Constitution with its novel system of allowing judges to arbitrate private business disputes, which...
Flood Insurance Price Increases Affecting Home Sales
Oct 24 2013 // Rangel Dockery and her husband bought a waterfront house in Florida four months ago, assuming their $2,000-a-year flood-insurance premium would remain about the same. After reading recently about a change in the federal...
Bill to Curb ‘Patent Trolls’ Introduced in Congress
Oct 24 2013 // A U.S. congressman, who has led the charge against frivolous patent infringement lawsuits, introduced a bill on Wednesday to curb the behavior of so-called “patent trolls” but faced criticism that some of the...
After JPMorgan $13B Deal, Banks Seek Protections in Future Bailouts
Oct 24 2013 // As the U.S. government closes in on a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co. over its mortgage practices, lawyers specializing in bank mergers are looking for ways to protect their clients from big losses in...
Florida Regulators Disapprove NCCI’s 1% WC Rate Increase Proposal
Oct 23 2013 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty today issued an order notifying the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) that its 1-percent proposed annual rate filing increase in Florida’s workers’...
U.S. Unveils Draft of Voluntary Corporate Cybersecurity Standards
Oct 22 2013 // A U.S. bureau on Tuesday unveiled a draft of voluntary standards that companies can adopt to boost cybersecurity – part of an attempt to protect critical industries without setting restrictive and costly...
Illinois Bills Call for Stiffer Penalties for Boating DUI
Oct 22 2013 // Illinois lawmakers are considering a series of measures aimed at making the state’s waterways safer, including a bill that would impose stiffer penalties on people caught operating a boat while intoxicated. The...
Supreme Court Declines Privacy Claim Against Resale of Driving Records
Oct 22 2013 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether a unit of Thomson Reuters Corp. can obtain and sell information on drivers provided by state agencies without violating a federal privacy law. The decision not...
