Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mo. Lawmakers Vote to Allow Insurance Director Authority to Veto Excessive Med Mal Rates
May 15 2006 // Missouri lawmakers voted recently to give the state insurance director the authority to veto medical malpractice rates that are “excessive” or otherwise inappropriate in an effort to help cut doctors’...
State-Exempt Small Group Health Measure Falters In Senate
May 14 2006 // A bill to give small businesses a cheaper option when providing health insurance stalled in the U.S. Senate last week. Under the proposal endorsed by President Bush, businesses could buy insurance through regional or...
Maryland Adopts Some, Not All, Ideas to Aid Urban Auto Insureds
May 12 2006 // Maryland is moving to address the higher costs of insurance for urban drivers, with passage of recent legislation requiring insurers to regularly review their rating territories and streamlining the process for protesting...
Agents Hail Passage of Tax Legislation
May 12 2006 // The Senate late yesterday passed the conference report on the bill, the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act, on the heels of House passage Wednesday night. The tax-cut bill, supported by independent insurance...
Alaska Legislature Ends Session; Rejects Self-Insurance Bill
May 11 2006 // Alaska legislators concluded the 2006 regular session this week and in the final hours rejected a bill opposed by insurers that would have encouraged more employers to self-insure for workers’...
Democrats Vow to Block Bill Freeing Health Policies from State Mandates
May 11 2006 // Senate Democrats pledged this week to fight provisions in Republican-backed legislation that they said would reduce health insurance coverage for millions. The bill would let small businesses join across state lines to buy...
Michigan Senate Votes to Tie Health Insurance to Behavior
May 11 2006 // Health insurers and HMOs in Michigan could offer financial incentives to smaller employers that want to reward workers for healthy behavior under legislation passed unanimously May 9 in the state Senate. Supporters of the...
Colorado General Assembly Preserves Insurance Marketplace
May 10 2006 // The Colorado General Assembly adjourned its concluding a session, which the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) said was marked by the defeat of a wide variety of legislation that would have forced...
California Commissioner Seeks Investigation into “Attempted Blackmail” by Insurance Industry
May 10 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Attorney General of California to investigate the insurance industry’s latest...
Maine Adopts ATV Regulations
May 10 2006 // All-terrain vehicle operators who trespass or drive recklessly face tougher penalties under a new law that fine-tunes major ATV regulations enacted two years ago. “The number of ATV users continues to grow, and...
Speed to Market Legislation Headed to Ohio Governor’s Desk
May 10 2006 // Ohio Department of Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin announced that legislation that will more quickly provide consumers with access to new life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, and...
Mo. Legislators Await Governor’s Signature on Bill to Help Businesses Provide Insurance
May 9 2006 // Missouri lawmakers have voted to make it easier to start group health insurance plans. The Senate voted 31-0 on Wednesday to drop the minimum number of people necessary to start a group health insurance plan from 100...
Insurers Oppose California Auto Repair Dispute Legislation
May 9 2006 // California is scheduled to consider a bill today, May 9, that is designed to resolve auto repair disputes between insurers and policyholders, according to Jeff Fuller, executive vice president and general counsel of the...
California Commissioner Claims Insurance Industry Attempted Blackmail to Derail Auto Rate Regulations
May 9 2006 // California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi is claiming that he has unveiled an attack campaign by the insurance industry against his efforts to reward good drivers and create a fairer system for the pricing of auto...
Fla. Passed More Staged Accident Reforms This Year Than Any State
May 9 2006 // Florida’s Legislature responded to a pandemic of staged accidents by passing the most-sweeping fraud reforms of any state this year, according to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. “The legislature realizes...
Effort Begins to Educate Californians about Pending Auto Insurance Rate Increases
May 8 2006 // A group of local elected officials, chambers of commerce, tax groups and insurance companies announced that Californians to Stop Unfair Rate Increases (CSURI) will begin distributing educational information to Californians...
Senate Republicans Fail Again in Efforts to Cap Medical Malpractice Awards
May 8 2006 // Senate Republican leaders have again failed in their efforts to place limits on medical malpractice pain and suffering awards. Senate Democrats successfully stymied two Republican bills, one a broad bill affecting medical...
To bee or not to bee
May 8 2006 // Scientists at Cornell University in New York have come across a management strategy for group decision-making that is sure to set the business world buzzing. When 10,000 honeybees hunt for a new home, usually a tree...
Gov. Baldacci signs Maine law in effort to curb uninsured motorist claims following court ruling
May 8 2006 // Maine Gov. John Baldacci signed into law legislation that promises to curtail the number of uninsured motorist claims. The new law will allow insurers to limit coverage for uninsured motorists to claims based on injuries...
Why agents oppose Sen. Sununu’s optional federal charter
May 8 2006 // The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, and New Hampshire, (the Big “I”) strongly oppose S. 2509, the National Insurance Act of 2006, introduced recently by our own Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.)...
