Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Lawmakers Weigh Proposals to Fight Algae Blooms
Jan 27 2020 // The scum of blue-green algae was so thick and invasive in Florida two years ago that it suffocated fish by the thousands. Birds dropped dead. And people stayed out of the water. Offshore, a toxic swarm of rust-colored...
Industry Calls On Florida Lawmakers to Reform Lawsuit Abuse
Jan 27 2020 // Florida lawmakers are considering a number of insurance-focused issues over the course of the 60-day 2020 Legislative Session that started Jan. 14. At the top of the list for industry and consumer advocates are reforms to...
California Insurance Wholesalers Look at Gig Economy Law
Jan 27 2020 // A sweeping California gig economy law was the focus of a lot of the talk this year during an annual insurance wholesalers conference. Assembly Bill 5, California’s gig worker law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in...
Making Big Oil Pay for Climate Change May Be Impossible
Jan 24 2020 // Exxon Mobil dodged a bullet last month when a judge rejected a novel climate-change lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general. The case began with a promise from state officials that there would be a historic...
Indonesia to Tighten Oversight of Troubled Insurance Industry as Crisis Continues
Jan 24 2020 // With Indonesia’s oldest life insurer tottering on the brink of collapse following years of alleged mismanagement, authorities plan to tighten surveillance of the industry by overhauling regulations and setting up a...
Florida Lawmakers Propose Task Force to Protect State from Sea-Level Rise
Jan 24 2020 // After years of mostly ignoring climate change, Florida lawmakers waded deeper into the matter on Tuesday, advancing a proposal that would create a statewide Office of Resiliency and establish a task force to begin looking...
New Laws Spur Insurers to Reserve for Potential Child Sex-Abuse Claims
Jan 24 2020 // Travelers Companies Inc. has set aside a “modest” amount of additional money to cover its possible exposure to child sex-abuse claims, the insurer’s finance chief, Daniel Frey, told analysts during an...
Judge Rejects City’s Plea to End Lawsuit Over Ohio Teen’s Death
Jan 23 2020 // An Ohio judge has decided to move forward with a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a 16-year-old student who died after being trapped by a fold-up vehicle seat, despite making two 911 calls. Hamilton County...
New Jersey Law Bans Sale of Flavored Vaping Products
Jan 23 2020 // The sale of flavored vaping products is banned in New Jersey under legislation Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signed Tuesday. Murphy signed the measure that moved to his desk amid a nationwide scare last year over...
Arkansas’ Kerr Named Chair of NAIC’s Market Regulation, Consumer Affairs Committee
Jan 22 2020 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr has been named chairman of the Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs (D) Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for 2020. This is the second time...
Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Appointed as NAIC Committee Chair
Jan 22 2020 // Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman has been selected for the second consecutive year to serve as chair of the Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee of the National Association of Insurance...
IBM Calls For Rules to Curb Bias in Artificial Intelligence
Jan 22 2020 // IBM called for rules aimed at eliminating bias in artificial intelligence to ease concerns that the technology relies on data that bakes in past discriminatory practices and could harm women, minorities, the disabled,...
Arizona Lawmakers Vow to Boost Firefighter Cancer Coverage
Jan 21 2020 // A group of Arizona lawmakers has vowed to boost protections for firefighters and other first responders who are diagnosed with a cancer linked to the workplace to address concerns that some cities are denying...
Judge Cuts Johnson & Johnson Damages in Risperdal Case From $8 Billion to $6.8 Million
Jan 21 2020 // A Pennsylvania judge on Friday slashed to $6.8 million from $8 billion a punitive damages award against Johnson & Johnson to a man who said it failed to warn that boys using its antipsychotic drug Risperdal could grow...
California Lawmaker Wants Probe of PG&E’s Chief Regulator
Jan 17 2020 // A state lawmaker is demanding an extensive review of the California Public Utilities Commission to determine whether regulators’ lax oversight enabled neglect at Pacific Gas & Electric that triggered catastrophic...
Judge Presses PG&E on How It Will Protect Wildfire Victims’ Funds Given FEMA Demand
Jan 17 2020 // PG&E Corp. needs to explain how it will keep a promise to pay fire victims $13.5 billion in the face of a demand from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a cut of that money, a bankruptcy judge said...
Reuters Report: How Secrecy in Courts Stymies Safety Regulators
Jan 17 2020 // LEBANON, Ohio — Something wasn’t right with the Rhino. Reports started trickling in to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 2005 of people being killed or injured in the Yamaha Motor Co. off-road...
Global Cannabis Revenue Pushed by Sales Doubling in Some U.S. States
Jan 16 2020 // The green rush in the global cannabis market continued in 2019, with sales doubling in seven U.S. states as well as Canada, and you can expect that trend to continue this year, a report out on Thursday shows. The report...
Lawmaker Says Maine Cannabis Needs Bank, Insurance Access
Jan 16 2020 // A Maine legislator is calling on the state’s legislative body to push the U.S. Congress to make banking and insurance accessible to legalized cannabis businesses. Republican Rep. John Andrews of Paris, Maine, said he...
Florida Legislative Preview 2020: Industry Calls On Lawmakers to Reform Lawsuit Abuse
Jan 16 2020 // The Florida Legislature started its 2020 legislative session this week and lawmakers are set to consider a number of insurance-focused issues over the course of the 60-day period. At the top of the list for industry and...
