Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Senate Banking Panel to Hear Natural Disaster Commission Bill Today
Aug 1 2007 // A Senate Banking committee is scheduled to mark-up a bill today to establish a natural catastrophe commission to examine how best to mitigate disaster risks and deal with the after-effects of these events. The Senate...
Oregon Supreme Court Rules SAIF Not Immune from Lawsuits
Jul 31 2007 // The Oregon Supreme Court ruled the State Accident Insurance Fund Corp. can be sued for violations of federal constitutional rights. The court said that SAIF can be considered a “person” under federal law and,...
Mass. Agents Could Be Losers Under Competitive Auto Rating
Jul 31 2007 // Massachusetts insurance agents aren’t happy about the decision to introduce competitive rating into the state’s price-regulated private passenger auto insurance system. They enjoy the best market share (86...
Vioxx Federal Judge Sees 2008 Focus on Stroke Cases
Jul 30 2007 // Next year’s federal Vioxx trials may focus on people who had strokes after taking the once popular painkiller, the judge assigned to handle pretrial matters in all 8,575 federal lawsuits said last Friday. “We...
Okla. Regulator’s Concerns Impacts Federal Medicare Legislation
Jul 30 2007 // Two months ago, Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland was in Washington expressing dismay to a Senate panel that government policies prevented her from protecting elderly Oklahoma consumers from unscrupulous Medicare...
Ala. Judge Appoints Prosecutors in Katrina Insurance Case
Jul 30 2007 // A federal judge appointed two veteran Birmingham, Ala., attorneys to prosecute a prominent Mississippi attorney and his law firm for criminal contempt in a Hurricane Katrina insurance dispute. In an order made public July...
Insurers Balk as House Panel Votes to Add Wind Coverage to Flood Program
Jul 27 2007 // Private insurance companies are balking at a decision by a key House panel to expand the federal flood insurance program to include wind coverage. The House Financial Services Committee voted yesterday to add wind coverage...
Judge: La. Road Home Suit Should Name State as Well as Contractor
Jul 26 2007 // Sue the state as well as its contractor for Louisiana’s troubled Road Home problem, a federal judge in Baton Rouge, La., told the attorney who filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the contractor is cheating...
Terror Insurance Act Moves Forward in House with Lowered Event Triggers
Jul 25 2007 // The federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act moved out of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises this week and on to the full House...
Industry Still Divided as House Federal Charter Measure Reintroduced
Jul 25 2007 // U.S. Reps. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., and Ed Royce, R-Calif., have reintroduced their National Insurance Act of 2007, the so-called optional federal charter bill that proposes letting insurance companies choose federal over...
Insurance Referendum Appears Headed for Wash. Ballot
Jul 24 2007 // In its latest attempt to block a Washington regulation that insurers say would drive up insurance rates, the insurance industry association has launched a public campaign to take their issue to the ballot box. A campaign...
N.C. Lawmakers Approve Cap on Medical Malpractice Damage Awards
Jul 24 2007 // North Carolina lawmakers made a mild breakthrough last week on medical malpractice reform, agreeing to limit monetary damages in certain health care negligence cases. The bill would cap monetary damages in negligence cases...
Of wind and floods
Jul 23 2007 // Is there a place for windstorm coverage in the National Flood Insurance Program? Not according to three major trade groups representing insurance companies — they have officially taken a stand against proposals to...
Declarations
Jul 23 2007 // IPod thunderbolt “It’s going to hit where it’s going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity.” Dr. Mary Ann Cooper of the American College of Emergency Physicians and...
Of wind and floods
Jul 23 2007 // Is there a place for windstorm coverage in the National Flood Insurance Program? Not according to three major trade groups representing insurance companies — they have officially taken a stand against proposals to...
Drinking buddies not liable as social hosts, Mass. court rules
Jul 23 2007 // The Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that friends who meet regularly after work for drinks cannot be held liable for injuries caused when one of the members of their group drives home intoxicated. The court ruled that...
Oregon Seeking Comments on Insurer Assessments
Jul 23 2007 // Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services is seeking public comments on its proposed amendment of the state’s administrative rules relating to assessments against insurers to fund regulatory...
The Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act
Jul 23 2007 // The right policy at the right time … After decades of frustration and brutal disappointment, the vexing and seemingly intractable tax payment and regulatory compliance problems surplus lines brokers face on...
INHALANTS NOT INCLUDED UNDER DRUNK DRIVING LAW, N.Y. HIGH COURT RULES
Jul 23 2007 // A motorist accused of “huffing” stimulants from an aerosol can before getting into a deadly wreck cannot be charged with driving while intoxicated, New York’s highest court ruled recently. The Legislature...
Congress gets serious about surplus lines insurance reform
Jul 23 2007 // Legislation passes House, heads for the Senate; but not all in the industry think it’s the answer as now written Insurance regulatory reform efforts on Capitol Hill took a giant leap forward with the recent House...
