Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Judge Approves $7M Malpractice Settlement for Massachusetts Couple
May 9 2011 // A Massachusetts judge has approved a $7 million settlement for a Shrewsbury family who claimed medical negligence in the birth of their daughter. The lawsuit filed in 2008 lawsuit against two doctors, a nurse practitioner...
Florida Judge Says Insurance Should Cover Chinese Drywall Case
May 9 2011 // A Florida judge has ruled that a couple’s damage from tainted Chinese drywall is covered by their homeowner insurance policy. Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Robert Foster this week said he found no exclusion in...
Wash. Judge Orders $129K in Damages for Boy Injured By Tree
May 6 2011 // A southwest Washington school district has been ordered to pay more than $129,000 in damages to the family of a teenage boy who suffered a skull fracture when he was hit by a falling tree at a school in 2009. The Columbian...
Insurers Fight Over Flood Policies Dropped by State Farm
May 6 2011 // Major U.S. insurers jostled on Capitol Hill this week over control of 800,000 former State Farm flood insurance policies as lawmakers tried to advance reform of the nation’s flood insurance system. The conflict began...
Systemic Firms Will Not Be ‘Too Big to Fail,’ Says FDIC’s Bair
May 6 2011 // Financial firms that the U.S. government deems as “systemic” will not be “too big to fail,” bank regulator Sheila Bair said Thursday. Bair, pushing back against critics who say the systemic...
Insurers Fight Over Flood Insurance Policies Dropped by State Farm
May 5 2011 // Major U.S. insurers jostled on Capitol Hill this week over control of 800,000 former State Farm flood insurance policies as lawmakers tried to advance reform of the nation’s flood insurance system. The conflict began...
Whistleblowers Not Protected for Media Leaks, Federal Court Rules
May 5 2011 // Whistleblower protections in a federal accounting law do not cover leaks to the media, a U.S. appeals court has ruled, dealing a blow to two former Boeing auditors who had sued the company. Nicholas Tides and Matthew...
Montana Lawmakers Add Tax to Workers’ Comp Bill
May 5 2011 // On the last day of the Montana legislative session, lawmakers added a 2.75 percent premium tax on insurance sold by the Montana State Fund to pay for continuing claims for workers injured before July 1990. The new fee...
Kansas Legislature Passes Crash Tax Ban
May 4 2011 // The Kansas Legislature has passed legislation that prevents local governments from charging fees for routine accident response services, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). House Bill...
Small Business Owners Concerned Over Taxes, Healthcare Issues
May 4 2011 // Tax-related regulations and concerns over health care burden many small business owners today. Nearly two out of three business owners believe that tax-related regulations are too burdensome, while 51 percent find health...
Kentucky to Streamline Agents’ Licenses for Veterans
May 4 2011 // Members of the armed services and their sponsors will find it easier to keep or obtain an agent’s license under a new law approved by Kentucky lawmakers. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has signed into law HB 301...
Florida Legislature Approves Commercial Rate Deregulation Bill
May 3 2011 // Commercial insurers in Florida will have more leeway in setting rates on a number of lines of insurance under a bill approved today by state lawmakers. The Florida legislature approved CS/HB 99 that expands the list of...
Kansas Passes No Pay/No Play Bill; Insurer Group Urges Governor to Sign
May 3 2011 // The Kansas Legislature has now passed legislation, Senate Bill 136, designed to encourage more drivers to purchase auto insurance as required by law and reduce the number of uninsured motorists on the road, according to...
Missouri Governor Vetoes Workplace Discrimination Measure
May 2 2011 // Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has vetoed legislation that would have changed the legal standard workers must meet when they file discrimination lawsuits against former employers. Nixon said the measure would have undermined the...
Oregon Lawmakers Consider Governance in Disaster
May 2 2011 // Oregon’s Constitution requires that the state Legislature meet in Salem. So what would happen if disaster struck Oregon and lawmakers needed to urgently approve relief funds in a capital city they couldn’t...
Tennessee Insurance Agents Secure Investigation Protections, Lower Fines
May 2 2011 // Tennessee insurance agents who come under investigation by the state will enjoy some new due process protections and face lower financial penalties if found in violation of any laws under a measure just signed into...
Pending State Legislation to Implement NRRA Is Fly in the Ointment
May 2 2011 // Pending state legislative proposals, such as California’s AB 315, that would implement the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2010 (NRRA) are akin to the fly in the ointment. The NRRA becomes effective on July...
Top Judge on Delaware Business Court to Leave
May 2 2011 // The chief judge of Delaware’s Chancery Court, whose rulings in cases involving Walt Disney Co, Hewlett Packard Co. and eBay Inc. made him one of the most powerful arbiters of U.S. business disputes, plans to step...
Judge Tosses Worker’s Suit Over New York City Office Bedbugs
May 2 2011 // A former TV news staffer’s pioneering lawsuit over bedbug bites she received at her office has been thrown out by a judge who said workers can’t necessarily hold their employers’ landlords responsible for...
Calif. Commissioner Seeks Stricter Penalty Powers
May 2 2011 // California Sen. Noreen Evans, D-District 2, has introduced legislation to grant explicit authority to the state Insurance Commissioner to order restitution as part of an administrative enforcement action against an...
