Latest Legislation Headlines

Jun 7 2010 // Congress’s inability to act leaves many in flood prone areas vulnerable – for the second time this year and the fourth in 12 months’ time. When it rains it pours, as the saying goes. By extension, one...

Florida Insurers Head Into Hurricane Season with Fingers Crossed

Jun 7 2010 // Florida’s property insurance companies haven’t suffered hurricane losses for nearly five years, but many claim to be losing money even while collecting hefty premiums. It’s a complex paradigm for almost...

Oklahoma Lawmakers Pass Workers’ Comp Legislation

Jun 7 2010 // The Oklahoma Legislature passed four measures that alter the state workers’ compensation system, including one that requires Senate confirmation of Workers’ Compensation Court judges – a proposal that...

Jun 7 2010 // Congress’s inability to act leaves many in flood prone areas vulnerable – for the second time this year and the fourth in 12 months’ time. When it rains it pours, as the saying goes. By extension, one...

Calif. Agents Could Face New CE Requirements

Jun 7 2010 // Agents, Insurer Groups Discuss Homeowners Replacement Cost Regulations California insurance agents and producers may face new continuing education requirements on estimating replacement value on homeowners insurance. The...

Supervisor Has Duty to Enforce OSHA Compliance

Jun 7 2010 // The workplace is undergoing a demographic change as “Baby Boomers” – born between 1946 and 1960 – retire and are replaced by Generation X (1961-1982) and Generation Y/Millennial Generation...

Commercial Market to Remain Stable, Challenging for Risk Managers

Jun 7 2010 // Marsh Sees Insurer Security, Transparency, Accountability as Issues Despite the global economic crisis, the commercial insurance market is poised to remain stable through 2010, but new challenges are emerging for risk...

New York Approves Disclosure-Compensation Statement

Jun 4 2010 // New York agents can use a 226-word, boilerplate statement written by a trade group to comply with compensation-disclosure regulations that go into effect next year, state regulators said. The Professional Insurance Agents...

After Child Fatality, Ohio Lawmakers Push for School Bus Seat Belts

Jun 4 2010 // State lawmakers say a school bus crash that killed an eastern Ohio kindergarten student has given new urgency to a proposal requiring seat belts on school buses. Six-year-old Kasey King of Frazeysburg died June 2 when a...

Bermuda Monetary Authority Launches Pilot Internal Capital Model

Jun 2 2010 // The Bermuda Monetary Authority has begun conducting a pilot of its internal capital model (ICM) review process with selected Class 4 companies, the largest commercial (re)insurers in the Bermuda market. “The ICM...

New Florida Law Adjusts Property Assessments for Drywall Effects

Jun 2 2010 // Florida Governor Charlie Crist today signed legislation making properties affected by imported or domestic drywall eligible for an adjustment of their assessed value. The bill, HB 965, applies to the 2010 and subsequent...

Florida Governor Signs Commercial, Professional Lines Deregulation Bill

Jun 2 2010 // Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has signed into law a bill exempting certain commercial and professional liability insurance rates from state review prior to use. Current state law exempts only those policies with annual...

Florida Gov. Crist Vetoes Property Insurance Bill

Jun 1 2010 // As he hinted he would do, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has vetoed an omnibus property insurance bill (SB2044) that the industry and even the state’s insurance commissioner had urged him to sign. Crist, who was elected...

Judge Rejects Fraud Charge, Says Rating Agencies Not Underwriters

Jun 1 2010 // A Manhattan federal judge said on Tuesday that it was unfair to hold Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s liable as “underwriters” on securities offerings needing their ratings, as he...

Oklahoma Workers’ Comp System Reform Legislation Advances

May 28 2010 // Legislation designed to improve Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system for injured workers and reduce costs for the state’s employers has passed the House of Representatives. The four bills comprise a...

Massachusetts AG Wants New Regulations for Insurers, Agents

May 28 2010 // Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is proposing new regulations that she says will rein in sales and underwriting practices for auto insurers and agents in the state. The regulations come in response to a report...

Flood Insurance Program to Expire Again May 31

May 28 2010 // For the fourth time in the past year, the nation’s flood insurance program will lapse because Congress has not voted to reauthorize it. That’s the latest on Capitol Hill, according to property/casualty...

Legislation to Impound Uninsured Vehicles Advances in Oklahoma

May 28 2010 // Legislation that would allow law enforcement in Oklahoma to impound uninsured vehicles is one step away from becoming law. House Bill 2331, by state Rep. Steve Martin and state Sen. Gary Stanislawski, passed the Oklahoma...

Justice Department Defends Retroactive Liability Limit on BP

May 26 2010 // The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday that Congress could retroactively impose a higher liability cap on BP Plc to pay for the damage from its growing oil spill, and the company would likely lose if it challenged the...

Trade Groups Sue New York over Pay Rules

May 26 2010 // Two trade groups for New York insurance agents are suing the state’s insurance regulator over new rules that will force them to reveal to clients how much they are paid for a particular transaction. The Independent...