Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
A Decade Later: Is Sarbanes-Oxley Working?
Aug 6 2012 // When Peregrine Financial collapsed in July, a nagging question resurfaced. As in the implosion of Lehman Brothers, the fall of Bernard Madoff and other cases in recent years, many asked: Where were the accountants? That...
Conference: Risk, Returns, Regulation and More Regulation
Aug 6 2012 // Coming off a rough few years of recession, then a disaster prone 2011 — and then more global uncertainty in 2012 — the world and the insurance industry have a few things to look forward to in the next year. They also...
North Carolina Insurance Reforms Fall Short
Aug 6 2012 // North Carolina lawmakers approved a bill with some changes to the property insurance system but, as one industry expert said, in so doing lawmakers “just stuck more fingers in the dike.” Despite what critics...
Feds to Take Over Hawaii Job-Safety Regulation
Aug 6 2012 // The federal government will temporarily take control of parts of Hawaii’s authority to regulate workplace safety. In response to federal concern over staff reductions in the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health...
House Passes $383 million US Drought Aid Bill for Ranchers
Aug 3 2012 // The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $383 million disaster relief bill on Thursday that provides political shelter for lawmakers during the worst drought in half a century, but may not release the aid for months to...
Thomson Reuters Establishes Connecticut’s First Captive Insurance Co.
Aug 2 2012 // Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced today that international media and information company Thomson Reuters has relocated its U.S. insurance subsidiary from Delaware to Connecticut. The subsidiary, Thomson Reuters Risk...
Mass. Healthcare Cost Containment Measure Aims to Save Up to $200B
Aug 2 2012 // Massachusetts lawmakers have given final approval to a bill designed to save up to $200 billion in health care costs over the next 15 years. Legislative leaders say the bill will help guarantee the future of the...
Natural Gas Drilling Co. Tells N.Y.: Stop the Local Bans or We’ll Sue
Aug 1 2012 // A natural gas drilling company is taking a new tack in the industry’s fight against local drilling bans: It’s threatening to sue if New York regulators don’t step in and extinguish the prohibitions. John...
Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Check Fraud Efforts Produce Results
Aug 1 2012 // Just months after Florida lawmakers enacted a new law designed to target the role of check cashing companies in the construction industry, state officials announced a string of arrests netting more than $140 million in...
N.Y. Judge Orders Iran, al-Qaida to Pay $6B for 9/11
Aug 1 2012 // A federal judge in New York has ordered al-Qaida, the Taliban and Iran to pay $6 billion to relatives of Sept. 11 victims for aiding in the 2001 terror attacks. Manhattan Federal Magistrate Judge Frank Maas’ ruling...
Judge Rules Stanford’s U.S. Receiver to Keep Control of Ponzi Scheme Case
Aug 1 2012 // Allen Stanford’s U.S. court-appointed receiver may keep control of the process to collect and distribute the convicted Ponzi schemer’s assets to victims, defeating a bid by Caribbean liquidators, a U.S. federal...
What to Know About the New Flood Insurance Program
Jul 31 2012 // If it were a dam or a levee, it would have been replaced ages ago. Yet the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has stayed afloat despite a regular leaking of funds since its inception in 1968. The much-needed,...
New Louisiana Insurance Laws Address Citizens, Proof of Insurance, DWIs
Jul 31 2012 // In addition to suspending the 10 percent surcharge rule on property insurance provided by Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort in certain coastal parishes, recently passed state legislation includes provisions...
Geneva Association’s Fitzpatrick Warns against Mixing Bank and Insurance Regs
Jul 31 2012 // After 39 years of gathering, collating and disseminating the facts and figures relevant to the global insurance industry the world’s leaders and shakers are finally paying attention to the findings and...
US Congressional Negotiators Reach Deal on New Iran Sanctions
Jul 31 2012 // U.S. lawmakers moved a step closer to finalizing new sanctions aimed at further restricting Iran’s oil revenues after negotiators from the Senate and House of Representatives agreed on a compromise bill on...
Alabama Bans Texting While Driving Aug. 1
Jul 30 2012 // Starting Wednesday, texting, emailing and instant messaging while driving will become illegal in Alabama, with violators facing fines and possibly higher insurance rates. That is, if they don’t have a wreck...
A Decade Later: Is Sarbanes-Oxley Working? – Analysis
Jul 30 2012 // When Peregrine Financial collapsed earlier this month, a nagging question resurfaced. As in the implosion of Lehman Brothers, the fall of Bernard Madoff and other cases in recent years, many asked: Where were the...
West Virginia Mine Regulators Slow on Inspections, Permits
Jul 27 2012 // West Virginia mine regulators have failed to meet internal goals for timely inspections and permits, a legislative audit concluded, but agency officials disagree with the auditors over why. The report released this week to...
Drought Bill May Get Washington to Act on Farm Bill
Jul 27 2012 // A comparatively low-priced disaster bill for livestock producers hit by the worst U.S. drought since 1956 may be the ticket to passage for a $500 billion farm bill now in limbo in Congress. Republican leaders in the House...
Conference: Risk, Returns, Regulation, and More Regulation
Jul 26 2012 // Coming off a rough few years of recession, then a disaster prone 2011 – and then more global uncertainty in 2012 – the world and the insurance industry have a few things to look forward to in the next year. They also...
