Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Delaware House Approves Bill to Release Cancer Data
Jun 20 2008 // Delware lawmakers on Tuesday blasted Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s administration for withholding cancer data from the public, unanimously passing a bill directing state officials to provide more information. Cancer...
Judge Approves $11M Settlement in Virginia Tech Shootings
Jun 20 2008 // A Virginia judge on Tuesday approved an $11 million state settlement with families of most of the victims in last year’s Virginia Tech slayings that will avoid a court battle over whether anyone but the gunman was to...
Tennessee Implements Scrap Metal Theft Prevention Program
Jun 19 2008 // Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Leslie Newman named the members that will serve on an advisory committee for the department’s scrap metals registration program. The advisory committee is...
Iowa Governor Says Special Legislative Flood Session Very LIkely
Jun 19 2008 // Iowa lawmakers are making arrangements for a near-certain special session to address flooding damage across the state, and some say an increase in the state’s gas tax may be on the table. Senate Majority Leader...
PCI Hires Gordon as Senior VP of Policy Development and Research
Jun 19 2008 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America hired Robert Gordon as the organization’s senior vice president of policy development and research. Gordon most recently served as the parliamentarian, senior...
$120 Million Judgement Against a Refinery Reinstated by Illinois Court
Jun 18 2008 // An Illinois appellate court has reinstated a $120 million judgment against owners of the former Clark Oil refinery, reversing a Cook County judge’s decision to dissolve the class-action suit after a verdict was...
Trade Group Names Senior Vice President, Policy Development
Jun 18 2008 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) announced today that Robert Gordon will serve as the organization’s senior vice president of policy development and research. David A. Sampson, president...
California Senate Considers Agent-Broker Bill, Consumer Group Challenges Legislation
Jun 17 2008 // Three pieces of legislation will be heard in the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance committee on Wednesday, June 17, 2008. Assemblyman Jared Huffman’s AB 2800 would allow insurance companies to require drivers to...
Iowa Legislative Panel to Study Impact of Flooding on Livestock Industry
Jun 17 2008 // Iowa lawmakers agreed on June 12 to create a special committee to examine the economic impact of this spring’s flooding on Iowa’s livestock industry. The Legislative Council, a bipartisan group that runs the...
Kentucky Gov. Appoints Workers Claims Administrative Law Judges
Jun 17 2008 // Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear appointed two new administrative law judges in the Department of Workers Claims. Beshear appointed private practice attorney Joseph W. Justice, of Pikeville. The appointment replaces John W....
Feds to Require Airtight Refuge Chambers in All Coal Mines
Jun 16 2008 // The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is taking a stab at requiring airtight emergency refuges in the nation’s 624 underground coal mines. Mine operators can either store building materials underground,...
Conn. Supreme Court Rules ‘High-Low’ Pacts Must Be Revealed
Jun 16 2008 // Lawyers for a Connecticut psychiatrist who was sued for malpractice should have revealed to her doctor co-defendant a secret settlement that hinged on the outcome of the trial, the state’s Supreme Court ruled. The...
Florida Extends State Insurer’s Rate Freeze for Another Year
Jun 16 2008 // When the dust settled at the end of the 2008 legislative session, Florida lawmakers had presented their governor with a full plate of insurance issues, the most significant of which is a bill including a rate-freeze...
Federal Judge: Mississippi AG Hood Conspired with Scruggs
Jun 16 2008 // Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood wrongly conspired with prominent trial attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs to skirt a court order in a case involving Hurricane Katrina insurance claims, a federal judge...
State Regulators: Credit Scoring Use Needs More Study
Jun 16 2008 // State regulators recently told Congress that more study of the use of credit scoring by insurance companies is needed to determine if the practice is unfairly discriminatory. “As state regulators, it is our sincere...
Insurance Companies Face Global Warming Claims
Jun 16 2008 // Corporations Exposed to Liability for Greenhouse Gas Emissions The industry is about to enter an era of global warming insurance claims. Scientists have been warning about the impact global warming could have if greenhouse...
State Regulators Call for More Study of Credit Scoring Use in Insurance
Jun 16 2008 // State regulators told Congress that more study of credit scoring use by insurance companies is needed to determine if the practice is unfairly discriminatory. “As state regulators, it is our sincere desire that the...
California Regulator Says Insurance Needs Local Regulation, More Modernization
Jun 16 2008 // Insurance is best regulated at the local level. That’s the opinion of California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who shared his views during his welcome address to the National Association of Insurance...
Anti-Bias Laws Cover Retaliation Claims, U.S. Supreme Court Rules
Jun 16 2008 // Employees who complain of racial bias in the workplace and then face retaliation can sue under a post-Civil War-era law barring discrimination, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in late May. In a second similar decision, the...
Foreign Insurers Look at Potential Acquisitions in a Weakened U.S. and E.U.
Jun 16 2008 // Asian Insurers May Buy in U.S., E.U.; Bermuda Beefs Up Regulators; Zurich Favored for Acquisition Asian insurers may go on a buying spree. A number of companies, particularly China’s major players, are likely to...