Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Using Social Media Responsibly
Oct 8 2012 // Social media are changing the way insurance professionals do business. How can these forms of media, such as Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, help make your business more successful? And how can you protect...
Calling Workers’ Comp Experts
Oct 8 2012 // Workers’ compensation reform has arrived — or is arriving to be more accurate — in California. When Gov. Jerry Brown last month signed Senate Bill 863, which is designed to increase disability benefits for...
Connecticut Insurance Department Names New Captive Manager
Oct 5 2012 // Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas Leonardi today announced that John C. Thomson, a veteran risk management specialist, will manage the new captive insurance regulatory unit. Commissioner Leonardi said Thomson...
Allstate Agents Returning to Massachusetts After 25 Years
Oct 5 2012 // Allstate Insurance Co. is reopening brick-and-mortar offices in Massachusetts after a quarter century of absence. Back in 1987, the Northbrook, Ill.-headquartered Allstate closed its offices in Massachusetts and pulled out...
N.M. Court Rules Against Residents Suing Oil Company
Oct 5 2012 // New Mexico’s Court of Appeals has ruled against a group of current and former Hobbs residents who sued an oil company because of illnesses and other damages. The court on Tuesday upheld a Lea County District Court...
Florida PIP Reforms Reduce Hikes But Not Many Premiums Thus Far
Oct 5 2012 // Florida regulators are optimistic that the state’s no-fault auto reforms are having a positive effect on the market and will eventually cut premiums for drivers. But for now they are telling the public that the...
Zach Scruggs Denied Appeal on Judge Bribery Conviction
Oct 5 2012 // The full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to hear an appeal from Zach Scruggs, who was implicated as having knowledge of a Mississippi judicial corruption scheme that toppled his father, plaintiffs’...
Lawmaker Warns of New Cyber Threats to U.S. Financial Networks
Oct 5 2012 // The head of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Thursday that significant new cyber threats to U.S. financial networks appeared to be emerging from an “unusual” source. Committee...
Calif. State Fund May Recommend Workers’ Comp Rate Drop in Days
Oct 4 2012 // Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles to look at California’s workers’ compensation reform law in detail and what must be done to implement that law by Jan. 1, 2013. California’s...
Surplus Lines: Regulators Vetting of Alien Nonadmitted Insurers
Oct 4 2012 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is a non-profit entity that acts as the trade association for state insurance commissioners. Although the NAIC may play a central role in regulation of the...
Florida Approves 10.8% Rate Hike for Citizens; Also 21.4% for Sinkholes
Oct 4 2012 // Florida regulators have approved a 10.8 percent statewide average homeowners insurance rate increase and a 21.4 percent increase in sinkhole rates for the state-backed property insurer. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty...
Judge Shuts Down Christian Health Ministry Medi-Share in Kentucky
Oct 4 2012 // A Christians-only health care ministry must cease operations in Kentucky unless it can get regulatory approval from the state Department of Insurance, a judge ruled this week. The ruling by Franklin County Circuit Judge...
A Look at Some New Laws Taking Effect in Maryland
Oct 2 2012 // Here is a glance at some of the new laws that went into effect in Maryland October 1: CHEMOTHERAPY PARITY Health insurance companies will have to level the playing field for out-of-pocket patient expenses for oral...
WTO Director Lamy Says Doha Round Rescue in US, China’s Hands
Oct 2 2012 // World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy on Monday acknowledged the Geneva-based grouping has been a “disappointing” forum for trade liberalization but placed the blame for moribund world trade...
Florida Insurers’ Filings on PIP Rates Due Today
Oct 1 2012 // Automobile insurers have until today to show Florida regulators how much, if at all, they plan on reducing rates on the personal injury protection, or no-fault, portion of drivers’ policies. This could mean that...
Calif.’s Brown Record ‘Solid’ on Insurance Legislation
Sep 28 2012 // Gov. Jerry Brown saw over a dozen bills related in some way to insurance come across his desk, with a bill to approve driverless cars, a bill to overhaul California’s workers’ compensation system among...
South Dakota Will Not Run its Own Health Insurance Exchange
Sep 28 2012 // South Dakota will not set up its own health insurance exchange, instead deferring to the federal government to operate and pay for a key component required by the federal health care overhaul, Gov. Dennis Daugaard...
Rental Firms Agree Not to Rent Recalled Cars
Sep 28 2012 // Leading U.S. car rental companies have agreed to back Senate legislation to pull vehicles from the road when recalled for safety defects, lawmakers and the firms said on Thursday. The legislation brings car rental...
‘We’re an Attractive Place to do Business:’ Lloyds CEO Richard Ward
Sep 26 2012 // Following Lloyd’s release of its composite results for the first six months of 2012 – a £1.53 billion [$2.4 billion] profit – Lloyd’s chief executive Richard Ward was understandably pleased. In a telephone...
Best Reports on MENA Insurance Market; Regulatory Change Coming
Sep 26 2012 // A report from A.M. Best examines the current state of the insurance market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It notes that “over the past decade, the insurance industry has experienced strong growth...
