Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
SW Idaho Lawmaker to Pursue Texting Ban
Sep 24 2010 // A southwestern Idaho lawmaker plans to make another run at banning texting while driving. Republican state Sen. John McGee laments the Idaho Legislature’s failure in 2010 to pass a ban. A bill passed the Senate, but...
Congress Takes Aim at Cybersecurity Threats
Sep 23 2010 // Proposed cybersecurity legislation circulating on Capitol Hill would give the president the power to declare an emergency in the case of big online attacks and force some businesses to beef up their cyber defenses and...
Texas Lawmaker Revives Disputed TWIA Information Request
Sep 23 2010 // A Texas state representative has issued a second request for information from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association regarding a $189 million settlement in a class action lawsuit stemming from Hurricane Ike that was...
European Union to Establish New Financial ‘Watchdogs’ in January
Sep 22 2010 // European Union lawmakers gave their final approval on Wednesday for the creation of watchdogs to regulate European banking, insurance and trading, in one of the most far-reaching financial reforms of the decade. Putting...
Republicans Want to Revisit Financial Regulation Reform Bill
Sep 21 2010 // Republicans will reopen the broad Wall Street reform law and overhaul the newly created consumer protection bureau if they regain control of Congress after the November elections, a leading lawmaker said Monday. Richard...
New Orleans Judge Handling BP Oil Cases a ‘Straight Shooter’
Sep 17 2010 // The judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits spurred by BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill brought his much-noted calm, easy manner to the first major hearing in what could be one of the most complex and costly court...
Judge Urges BP Oil Disaster Litigants to Settle, Avoid Trial
Sep 17 2010 // The U.S. judge overseeing the hundreds lawsuits filed by shrimpers, restaurateurs and others against BP Plc and its partners as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill urged the parties on Thursday to consider an...
Florida Workers’ Comp Law Shields Disney World, SeaWorld from Suits
Sep 17 2010 // They are two of Central Florida’s biggest and best-known employers — and both face the prospect of potentially ugly lawsuits stemming from a worker’s death on the job. And yet Walt Disney World, which is...
Warren Vows to End Financial ‘Tricks and Traps’ with New Consumer Agency
Sep 17 2010 // Wall Street critic Elizabeth Warren said Friday she accepted the job of setting up a consumer financial protection agency for U.S. President Barack Obama and declared that the time for financial “tricks and...
Aging Gas Pipe at Risk of Explosion Nationwide
Sep 16 2010 // The tragic gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb has shed light on a problem usually kept underground: Communities have expanded over pipes built decades earlier when no one lived there. Utilities have been...
U.S. Judge Sets December Date for Health Care Suit Hearing
Sep 15 2010 // A Florida judge said Tuesday he would hear arguments Dec. 16 on a lawsuit by 20 U.S. states seeking to block President Barack Obama’s overhaul of the U.S. health care system. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, who is...
Judge: Massachusetts Town Can’t Stop Discrimination Suit
Sep 13 2010 // A federal judge has ruled that a social services agency that wanted to open a group home for recovering drug addicts in Framingham can move forward with its lawsuit against the town. Judge Douglas Woodlock on Thursday...
Towers Watson: New Risks, Regulations Reshape Reinsurance Industry
Sep 13 2010 // The growing complexity of reinsurance markets in recent years has increased demands on reinsurance buyers and radically transformed the industry, says Towers Watson. Changes such as complex market data, Solvency II...
S&P Examines Reinsurers Reconsideration of Domicile Decisions
Sep 9 2010 // Global reinsurance companies are reconsidering their choices of corporate domicile, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, titled “Choosing A Domicile Remains A Hot Topic For...
Homeowners Insurance an Issue in Texas Gubernatorial Campaign
Sep 6 2010 // Former Houston Mayor Bill White, a Democrat campaigning to replace Repub-lican Rick Perry as governor of Texas, says homeowners insurance rates in Texas are too high and should be more regulated. White said Texans pay an...
Fee Schedule Slowed Growth of Illinois Injured Workers’ Medical Costs
Sep 3 2010 // Medical costs per workers’ compensation claim in Illinois showed slower growth in 2007 following implementation of the medical fee schedule in 2006, according to a study from the Workers Compensation Research...
Financial Reforms Will Help Curb Systemic Risk, Regulators Tell Panel
Sep 1 2010 // New powers from the financial reform law will help avoid a repeat of 2008’s frenzied sale of Wachovia and the wreckage that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers, U.S. regulators said Wednesday. A commission...
Judge: Pennsylvania School District Must Pay $260K in Spying Case
Sep 1 2010 // A federal judge says a suburban Philadelphia school district embroiled in a laptop spying scandal must pay a family’s lawyer about $260,000. Lower Merion School District was ordered Monday to pay attorney Mark...
University Study of P/C Insurers Finds Bad CEOs Can Wreck Companies
Aug 31 2010 // When companies go out of business, their leaders often blame something other than their own performance for the failure. Lehman Bros.’s CEO Richard Fuld said his immense compensation package had nothing to do with...
Study: Compound Drugs, Co-Packs Increase Calif. Workers’ Comp Costs
Aug 31 2010 // The use of compound drugs, medical foods, and so-called convenience packs that combine prescription drugs and medical foods, increased dramatically in the second quarter of 2007 — driving up costs in the...
