Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Senate Panel Advances Florida PIP Reform Bill
Mar 2 2012 // A Senate bill aimed at cracking down on the rampant personal injury protection insurance fraud that costs Florida drivers more than $1 billion annually in premiums is headed to the full floor for what promises to be a...
West Virginia Safety Bill Responds to Upper Big Branch Tragedy
Mar 1 2012 // A father crushed in a roof fall. A former schoolmate suffocated by poisoned air. Sharing stories of loved ones and friends killed in West Virginia’s coal mines, a unanimous House of Delegates passed safety...
Kentucky Lawmakers Advance Amish Buggy Legislation
Mar 1 2012 // Lawmakers in Kentucky have moved a step closer to discarding a longstanding traffic safety measure in the name of religious freedom, despite dire warnings that the move could lead to mayhem on the state’s...
Florida Lawmakers Keep Their Health Premiums Below Other State Workers’
Mar 1 2012 // Florida legislators, saying that they differ from rank-and-file state workers, have killed an effort to force themselves to pay more for their health insurance. The 160 members in the Florida Legislature pay among the...
Mississippi House Revisits Vetoed Auto Insurance Verification Bill
Mar 1 2012 // A proposal to set up online computer checks to make sure drivers have auto insurance is again moving forward in the Mississippi House. A similar measure was vetoed last year by then-Gov. Haley Barbour. According to 2009...
Alabama Seeks to License Public Adjusters
Mar 1 2012 // Alabama regulators and public adjuster groups are lobbying state lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow the state for the first time to license and monitor the actions of public adjusters. Insurer groups, however, are...
Insurance for Bonds Among Changes Sought by Missouri Lawmakers
Feb 29 2012 // Several Missouri lawmakers want to add requirements for officials involved in economic development projects. A House panel heard testimony on eight measures aimed at increasing scrutiny of businesses that ask for...
Denham Springs, Louisiana Adopts New Flood Regulations
Feb 29 2012 // The Denham Springs, La., City Council has approved changes to its flood ordinances. The Advocate reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency had given the city a deadline of April 3 to make the changes or lose the...
North Carolina Lawmakers Look to Tackle Copper Theft
Feb 29 2012 // Lawmakers in western North Carolina are looking to make it tougher for copper thieves to sell scrap metal, and they’re getting creative about how to get it done. The News Herald of Morganton reported that state Rep....
Florida May Change Citizens’ Policyholder Assessments
Feb 28 2012 // Funding for the Florida’s state-run property insurer is likely to change as state lawmakers are looking to access the insurer’s total assessment base quicker and give it more time to collect funds in the event...
Surplus Lines Analysis: Multistate Clearinghouse Economics Don’t Work
Feb 27 2012 // Recent data from Florida indicate that the economics for a multistate surplus lines tax allocation clearinghouse are unworkable. There simply is not enough multistate surplus lines tax to support the cost of a...
Judge Awards Iphone User $850 In Throttling Case
Feb 27 2012 // When AT&T started slowing down the data service for his iPhone, Matt Spaccarelli, an unemployed truck driver and student, took the country’s largest telecommunications company to small claims court. And won. His...
Florida Lawmakers Split on Workers’ Comp Drug Dispensing; Rate Cut Possible
Feb 27 2012 // Florida lawmakers appear headed toward a stalemate over how to rein-in the cost of physician-dispensed workers’ compensation prescription drugs. In an effort to force a deal, Senate lawmakers are calling for a...
Alabama Judge Acquits Man in Australia Honeymoon Death
Feb 27 2012 // A judge on Thursday acquitted a man accused of drowning his newlywed wife during a honeymoon diving trip to Australia eight years ago, saying in an unusual ruling that prosecutors did not prove the man intentionally killed...
Kentucky Screenings of Miners Highlights Risk of Drug Use
Feb 27 2012 // More than 1,500 coal miners have tested positive for drug use since Kentucky began screenings six years ago, a state attorney told lawmakers, and he urged lawmakers to close legal loopholes that can allow miners who test...
West Virginia Judge OKs Settlement in Agent Orange Suit
Feb 27 2012 // A West Virginia judge has approved a settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed by residents who say that chemical manufacturer Monsanto burned dioxin wastes, polluting the area with unsafe levels of the chemical. The...
White House Internet Privacy Bill of Rights Met with Skepticism
Feb 27 2012 // The White House proposed last Thursday a “privacy bill of rights” that would give consumers more control over their data but relies heavily for now on voluntary commitments by Internet companies like Google...
Judge: BP, Anadarko, Transocean May Be Liable for Oil Pollution Claims
Feb 23 2012 // BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. are liable and Transocean Ltd. may be liable for civil damages under federal pollution laws over the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a U.S. judge ruled. Wednesday’s...
Judge Strikes Down Washington Law Mandating Pharmacists Sell Contraception
Feb 23 2012 // A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Washington state cannot require pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives if to do so violates their religious beliefs. U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton declared the...
South Carolina’s Small Glass Shops Seek to Crack Giant Safelite’s Clout
Feb 23 2012 // How automotive glass repair companies are allowed to access glass claims has become a contentious issue in South Carolina where independent shops are trying to break a national company’s hold on the market. South...
