Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Liquidation of Minnesota-Based Insurance and Trust Company Underway
Dec 14 2011 // Minnesota is in the process of liquidating an Austin, Minn.-based insurance and trust company that regulators say has a long history of financial problems, administrative incompetence, coercive and dishonest business...
Drug Tampering Cases Show Gaps in Nurse Regulation in Kansas
Dec 14 2011 // A nurse with a prior felony conviction for forging prescriptions dilutes morphine solutions for five Halstead, Kan., nursing home patients. Another nurse convicted of stealing drugs from patients at an Emporia home gets...
Judge Tosses JPMorgan Lawsuit Against Insurers
Dec 14 2011 // A JPMorgan unit cannot force insurers to pay a $250 million settlement between failed investment bank Bear Stearns and government regulators, a state appeals court in New York ruled on Tuesday. Reversing a trial court, the...
Regulatory Investigations Top Directors’ List of Concerns: Willis/Overy Survey
Dec 14 2011 // The liability risks facing company directors and officers are intensifying in the wake of the economic crisis. At the head of the list are “regulatory investigations and enquiries,” which pose the greatest...
Alabama Judge Grants Probation to 4 in Oil Spill Claims Fraud
Dec 14 2011 // Four people will spend five years on probation after being convicted of pocketing money from Gulf oil spill claims. The Press-Register reported that U.S. District Judge William Steele also ordered the four to pay back...
Mutual Insurers Pleased with FDIC Rule Clarifying Dodd-Frank
Dec 13 2011 // Mutual insurers are pleased with a new proposal that makes it clear they would continue under state regulation and not be governed by the liquidation provision of the new federal Dodd-Frank Act. The proposed rule issued by...
Texas Lawmakers Named to Coastal Insurance Study Committee
Dec 12 2011 // A joint committee of state lawmakers over the next year will be looking in to alternatives for providing property insurance along the Texas coast. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has announced Texas House...
FEMA, N.Y. Officials Settle Dispute Over Flood Insurance Regulation
Dec 12 2011 // Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a new bulletin telling insurers that they should cooperate with state regulators on questions regarding federal flood insurance. There has been an ongoing turf battle...
Analysis: Health Exchange Debate not Over in Arkansas
Dec 12 2011 // The Arkansas insurance commissioner’s decision to give up on the state running a health insurance exchange isn’t the end of the fight over implementing the federal health care law that required it. It’s...
Federal Judge Rules Blogger Not Journalist in Defamation Case
Dec 9 2011 // A federal judge has ruled that a Montana blogger was not acting as a journalist when she lambasted an Oregon attorney in online statements that led to a $2.5 million defamation judgment against her. The ruling last week by...
Florida Turns to Surplus Lines to Help Depopulate Citizens
Dec 9 2011 // Florida lawmakers are considering allowing surplus lines carriers to participate in the depopulation programs of the state’s largest homeowner insurer in an effort to reduce its policyholder rolls. Citizens Property...
UK Insurance Association: Solvency II May Help or Hinder EU Growth
Dec 9 2011 // Amidst all the turmoil in the euro zone, the implementation of the Solvency II regulations, governing the 27 members of the European Union, including the UK, grinds inexorably forward. It is a fact of life for British...
Michigan Senate Approves Workers’ Compensation Changes
Dec 8 2011 // Workers’ compensation reform legislation that supporters say will help reduce employer costs for helping injured workers has advanced in Michigan. The state Senate has passed a bill that was previously approved in...
Despite Consensus, Politics Stymies Federal Flood Reform
Dec 8 2011 // In this era of sharp political differences, the need for a national flood insurance program is one area where just about everyone agrees. Even so, the program is a victim of Washington partisanship, actuaries were told at...
Senate Approves Flood Insurance Extension to May 2012
Dec 7 2011 // The U.S. Senate passed an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through May 31, 2012. The legislation, introduced by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., passed the Senate by unanimous consent and must now be taken...
Latest Analysis Concludes Foreign Insurers Missing Out on China Party
Dec 7 2011 // Ten years ago, foreign insurers were lining up to celebrate China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, eager to tap what was certain to become the world’s next big insurance frontier. A decade on, it is...
Florida’s Citizens Insurance Says Legislation Needed for Real Change
Dec 6 2011 // Florida’s largest homeowner insurer is offering a slate of coverage changes, but concedes that without legislative changes there will be little reduction in its exposure or policyholder count. Gov. Rick Scott last...
Torus Acquires Renewals of C.V. Starr for Continental Europe; Interview with Int’l. CEO O’Donohoe
Dec 5 2011 // Torus announced that it has entered into an agreement with Starr Underwriting Agents Limited whereby Torus Syndicate 2243 acquires the renewal rights to CV Starr Syndicate 1919’s Continental European Marine,...
Lawmakers Block Safety Rules for Lithium Battery Shipments
Dec 5 2011 // Lawmakers responded to pleas from industry and foreign governments on Friday with a tentative agreement to block the Obama administration from requiring that air shipments of lithium batteries be treated as hazardous cargo...
Well-Meaning Decisions Yield Unintended Consequences
Dec 5 2011 // It would be difficult to find an industry more competitive than the insurance business. Our long-term results prove that to be true. Far more often than not, the industry loses money on what is supposed to be our core...
