Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insurers Mount Legal Challenge to Multi-state Credit Scoring Study; Ask States to Withdraw Data Call
Jun 23 2004 // Two national insurance company trade organizations have expressed legal concerns about the recently initiated multi-state study on credit-based insurance scores and have asked regulators in eight states to withdraw their...
R.I. Session Nears End with Med-Mal Push
Jun 23 2004 // As the end of the 2004 legislative session draws near in Rhode Island, Rep. Peter T. Ginaitt says he is pushing hard for the passage of his legislation to change some of the state laws governing medical malpractice...
NAMIC Renews Call to Eliminate Regulation By Litigation
Jun 23 2004 // “Lawmakers, regulators and courts must ensure that markets function freely and that laws governing those markets are reliable,” declared National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) Legal and...
High Court Says ERISA Preempts State Lawsuits
Jun 22 2004 // In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that patients cannot sue their health maintenance organization under state law for refusing to pay for medical treatment recommended under a doctor’s...
ACIC Opposes Rate Regulation Bill
Jun 22 2004 // The Association of California Insurance Companies (ACIC) is opposed to legislation that would establish a mandated rate regulation system for workers’ compensation insurance companies. “The bill would force...
PCI: Tenn. Auto Parts Regulation Would Make Consumers ‘Double Losers’
Jun 22 2004 // According to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), a Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance proposal requiring written permission from auto policyholders or third-party claimants to use...
The Vision Thing
Jun 21 2004 // As I write this Editor’s Note, the casket carrying our 40th president, Ronald Wilson Reagan, is winding its way to its final resting place near the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The timing seems somehow fitting...
Ohio Moves to Stem Flow of Asbestos, Silica Dust Litigation
Jun 21 2004 // Spurred by a struggling local manufacturing sector which blamed its hard times partly on bankruptcies due to asbestos litigation, Ohio became the first state in the country to place strict limits on plaintiffs’...
South Carolina Lawmakers Back Homeowners’ Flex-band Rating
Jun 21 2004 // Concurring with a series of House amendments, the South Carolina State Senate approved a bill recently that creates a flex-band rating bill for homeowners’ insurance, similar to that enacted for the state’s...
FLORIDA CFO WARNS OF HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS:
Jun 21 2004 // With explosive state population growth and experts predicting the formation of more than 12 named Atlantic storms, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher issued a warning recently to Floridians to prepare....
Gaining Wisdom Through Non-Subscription’s Choices and Challenges
Jun 21 2004 // Non-subscription. It’s been around for over 90 years, and has come into its own since the late 1980’s. We’ve seen that non-subscription provides Texas businesses with a choice that saved many employers...
Changes in Billing Imminent for Colorado Policyholders
Jun 21 2004 // The Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), responding to a recent state Supreme Court ruling, is expected to issue an emergency regulation requiring insurance companies to change the way that they bill for uninsured and...
IMSA Stakes Role as Market Conduct Model
Jun 21 2004 // Life insurers have driven the push to federalize insurance regulation in part because of the speed-to-market issue—it takes longer for them to roll out new products, as compared to their competitors who are selling...
Supreme Court Ruling Paves the Way for NAFTA
Jun 21 2004 // The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed to overturn a lower court ruling that had required the U.S. Department of Transportation to undertake an environmental impact study under the Clean Air Act before opening the...
California Court Ruling Undermines Insurance Commissioner’s Authority
Jun 21 2004 // A ruling by the California Court of Appeals undermines state regulation and the authority of the insurance commissioner by essentially declaring rate filings approved by the Department of Insurance as invalid according to...
The Value of Belonging
Jun 21 2004 // Insurance producers are a busy group, with day-to-day operations that include writing new business, servicing existing policies, taking care of employment issues, etc. Often, there is a myriad of factors—seemingly...
Veto of Vt. UIM Bill Upheld
Jun 18 2004 // Vermont House members, gathered for a brief reunion a bit less than a month after they thought they had finished for the year, voted to sustain Gov. James Douglas’ veto of a bill relating to car insurance and went...
R.I. Senate Backs Regional Health Plan
Jun 17 2004 // The Rhode Island Senate has approved legislation introduced by Sen. James C. Sheehan (D-Dist. 36) of Narragansett and North Kingstown to integrate Rhode Island’s insurance rules and regulations with those of...
NAMIC Urges Regulators to Reform Personal Lines
Jun 17 2004 // The top state government affairs official for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies encouraged insurance regulators to exert leadership in their states to achieve personal lines rate modernization as the...
Tort Reform Convinces MassMutual to Re-Enter Miss. Municipal Bond Market
Jun 17 2004 // The MassMutual Financial Group, a global diversified financial services organization, announced that Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and its affiliates would re-enter the market for Mississippi municipal bonds...
