Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Lawmakers Propose Reining in West Virginia Insurance Agency
Feb 19 2009 // West Virginia gives its insurance commission a lot of leeway when it comes to regulating workers’ compensation coverage. But pending legislation could change that. The House majority whip and judiciary chairwoman are...
Judges: Jury Should Hear Florida Carbon Monoxide Suit
Feb 19 2009 // A federal judge was wrong to dismiss a lawsuit that blamed an auto muffler maker for the carbon monoxide poisoning of a 19-year-old Florida woman and her boyfriend, rather than let a jury decide, an appeals panel ruled...
Execs Credit Risk Management for Minimizing Recession’s Impact
Feb 19 2009 // To many, the insurance world seems to operate on its own theory of physics. And to the hundreds of high-powered industry execs who gathered on the third floor of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York earlier this year, there is...
Arkansas Lawmakers Back Seat Belt, Teen Driver, Credit Report Laws
Feb 18 2009 // New restrictions on teen drivers and legislation allowing police to pull over motorists for not wearing their seat belts advanced in the Arkansas Legislature. Meanwhile, senators gave final approval to a bill that requires...
Arkansas Court: New Hospital Liability Law Is Retroactive
Feb 17 2009 // Charitable hospitals with self-insurance plans can be sued for incidents that occurred before their pooled liability funds were established, the Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled. The decision comes as a blow to...
Georgia Senate Panel Advances Food Safety Measure
Feb 13 2009 // A sweeping new food safety measure proposed in the wake of the salmonella outbreak easily passed its first key legislative hurdle this week as Georgia lawmakers sought to reassure antsy residents. The Senate Agriculture...
Texas Lawmakers Outline Hurricane Mitigation Recommendations
Feb 13 2009 // The state of Texas should require certain businesses like gas stations and nursing homes to have backup power generators to avoid the massive disruptions caused by Hurricane Ike, according to recommendations released by a...
Judge: Defense Insurance Act Bars Suits Against Subcontractor Blackwater
Feb 12 2009 // The survivors of four Blackwater Worldwide contractors killed in a grisly ambush in Iraq five years ago have suffered yet another setback in their legal battle with the company. A federal administrative law judge in North...
Judge Orders Tougher Mine Safety Rules to Improve Rescue Teams
Feb 12 2009 // A judge has ordered the federal agency that regulates coal mining to strengthen rules designed to make the nation’s 38,000 underground coal miners safer by creating better-trained rescue teams. U.S. Circuit Court of...
Vermont Weighs Expansion of Workers’ Comp
Feb 11 2009 // Vermont lawmakers will consider a bill that would extend workers’ compensation to cover mental and emotional problems suffered on the job. But the proposal is getting a cool reception from the insurance...
Surplus Lines Reform Legislation Reintroduced in Congress
Feb 11 2009 // Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services have announced plans they will introduce legislation that will create national standards for how states regulate the surplus lines...
Rhode Island Judge Asked to OK Club Fire Settlement Plan
Feb 10 2009 // Lawyers for the survivors and relatives of the 100 people killed in a nightclub fire almost six years ago asked a judge Friday to approve a formula to distribute proceeds from a $176 million settlement. The lawyers said in...
Judge Awards $1.4M to Lawyers in Taser Lawsuit
Feb 9 2009 // A federal judge has ordered Taser International to pay $1.4 million to lawyers for the family of a Salinas, Calif., man who died after police officers repeatedly shocked him with stun guns. U.S. District Court Judge James...
Change and Protect
Feb 8 2009 // Change is coming to Washington and to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, but hopefully it’s change that will protect the status quo when it comes to insurance regulation. Last spring, the editors at...
U.S. Lawmakers Vow More Food Safety Funds As Peanut Recalls Set Record
Feb 6 2009 // Lawmakers vowed this week to press for stronger food safety laws and more money for inspections as the list of recalled peanut products surpassed 1,000 in an ongoing national salmonella outbreak. “There is an...
Missouri Transportation Chief Pushes for Tougher Seat Belt Law
Feb 6 2009 // It’s failed repeatedly in the past, but state Transportation Director Pete Rahn is optimistic that a bill stepping up Missouri’s seat belt enforcement may pass this year. Rahn wants lawmakers to allow police to...
New York Proposes Compensation Disclosure Rules for Agents
Feb 6 2009 // Despite earning praise from major insurance brokerages, a proposed new regimen of compensation disclosure rules for insurance producers has New York agents on edge. The draft regulations issued earlier this week include...
Florida Lawmakers Question State Farm on Why It’s Leaving
Feb 5 2009 // State Farm Florida has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the state in the last decade and risks insolvency if it continues writing property insurance here, company executives told a legislative committee this...
North Dakota Bills Respond to Firings of Workers Compensation Whistleblowers
Feb 5 2009 // The dismissals of four employees who questioned how North Dakota’s workers compensation agency was being run showed a state law intended to guard against such firings is almost useless, a state senator believes. Sen....
Michigan Auto Insurance System, Costs, Insurers Under Fire
Feb 5 2009 // Michigan’s insurance consumer advocate is charging that drivers are paying a high cost for years of state deregulation of insurance and record insurance company profits. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has threatened...
