Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Okla. Official: Ex-lawmakers May Hold Insurance Department Jobs
Jan 10 2011 // A state law that bars legislators from working for a state agency within two years of leaving office doesn’t apply to two former state legislators hired by the incoming state insurance commissioner, an Oklahoma...
New York Insurers Applaud Plan to Merge State’s Regulatory Arms
Jan 7 2011 // A key trade group for insurers in New York State applauded a proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to merge the state’s insurance regulatory arm into a single agency overseeing insurance, banking and consumer protection. The...
West Virginia Judge Approves DuPont $70 Million Pollution Settlement
Jan 7 2011 // A pollution case involving a former zinc-smelter site in West Virginia has been resolved with DuPont agreeing to pay $70 million plus fund a medical monitoring program for area residents. DuPont and lawyers representing...
Missouri Lawmakers Pledge to Aid Businesses in 2011
Jan 7 2011 // The Missouri Legislature convened its 2011 session on Jan. 5, 2011, with many new faces, a looming budget shortfall and a pledge from the state’s largest Republican majority to make quick progress on a pro-business...
Calif. Commissioner Jones to Enforce Medical Loss Ratio Rule
Jan 5 2011 // Almost immediately after being sworn into office on Tuesday, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones signed an emergency order to enforce the medical loss ratio. the MLR rules require insurers to annually disclose the...
Texas Insurance Commissioner Geeslin to Step Down
Jan 5 2011 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin has announced that he will not seek another term as head of the Texas Department of Insurance. His term ends Feb. 1, 2011. Geeslin has been with TDI for eight years, and has served...
Top Workers’ Compensation News in 2010
Jan 4 2011 // Soft market conditions with unabated price competition and a slow economy with reduced payrolls continued to affect commercial liens including the the workers’ compensation industry in 2010, as they did in...
Florida Approves Lower Collateral for Renaissance Re
Jan 4 2011 // Bermuda-based Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd. has been approved to participate in Florida’s property reinsurance marketplace with modified collateral requirements. In 2007, Florida lawmakers passed legislation that...
Federal Audit Rips Spending for Texas Hurricane Cleanup
Dec 31 2010 // A scathing audit by the federal Department of Homeland Security questions whether some $45 million in public money was properly spent to remove debris in the cleanup of Chambers County, one of the Southeast Texas counties...
Steak n Shake Increases Its Bid for Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp
Dec 31 2010 // Texas-based Biglari Holdings Inc., parent company of the Steak n Shake restaurants, has increased its proposal to acquire 100 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Fremont Michigan InsuraCorp Inc....
Inspectors Find 2 Tennessee Dams in Need of Repair
Dec 31 2010 // State inspectors have found two privately owned hazardous dams in Tennessee that are in need of immediate repair, including one that the property owner seems unwilling to fix. An investigation by The Jackson Sun in May...
Indiana Gov., Lawmakers Eyeing Bank Insurance Fund as Revenue Source
Dec 31 2010 // Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indiana lawmakers preparing to craft the state’s next two-year budget are eyeing an obscure bank insurance fund as a possible revenue source to close anticipated budget gaps. The Indianapolis...
How to Fix Nation’s Flood Insurance Program
Dec 31 2010 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking a top-to-bottom review of the efforts to reform the nation’s flood insurance program. The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) has...
2011 Outlook: Too Much Capacity + Stagnant Demand = a Soft Market
Dec 31 2010 // A quick, and as yet incomplete, survey of re/insurance industry leaders indicates that the main concern they will have to deal with in the coming year isn’t climate change, or Solvency II, but the insurance...
California Approves Homeowners Underinsurance Regulations
Dec 31 2010 // California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved regulations designed to combat underinsurance and may require insurance agents and brokers to complete additional training. The regulations will take...
2010 Was Year of 20 Million Recalls for Car Makers
Dec 31 2010 // Automakers recalled about 20 million vehicles in 2010, led by high-profile recalls by Toyota that prompted new scrutiny of the auto industry’s safety record. The number of recalls this year was the largest in the...
Calif. Regulator Urges Gov.-Elect Brown to Preserve Workers’ Comp Reforms
Dec 31 2010 // Calif. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced he has sent a letter to Gov.-Elect Jerry Brown to urge him to preserve the workers’ compensation insurance reforms that have reduced the Workers’...
Top 5 Things Affecting Excess & Surplus Market in 2011
Dec 30 2010 // It has been a challenging few years for those in the excess and surplus (E&S) lines insurance market. An endless soft market, extreme competition from the standard markets, and a bad economy left wholesale and retail...
How to Fix Nation’s Flood Insurance Program
Dec 30 2010 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking a top-to-bottom review of the efforts to reform the nation’s flood insurance program. The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) has...
Federal Judge Tosses Pennsylvania Bar Patron’s Shooting Lawsuit
Dec 30 2010 // A federal judge in Pittsburgh has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a bar patron who claims he and another customer should have been searched for weapons before they shot one another in February. Forty-two-year-old Thomas...
