Latest Legislation Headlines

All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.

2017 Cyber Risks to Intensify as Hackers Become More Cunning: Report

Jan 11 2017 // Top cyber threats during 2017 are expected to include nation state cyber espionage, a rise in data integrity attacks and an increase in attacks harnessing Internet of Things (IoT) devices, according to a report published...

Insurance, Business Laws Keeping Uber, Lyft Out of Sioux Falls, S.D.

Jan 9 2017 // Conflicting insurance and business regulations passed by the South Dakota Legislature last year mean Sioux Falls won’t get Uber, Lyft or other ride-hailing services anytime soon, according to a state lawmaker. Rep....

Louisiana Governor: Homeowners Should Get Flood Plan Money by April

Jan 9 2017 // Louisiana has submitted its plan to spend $438 million in federal flood aid, and Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration says money should begin flowing for recovery work by April, even as the state continues to...

Oregon’s New Fall Protections Now 6′ And Up for Home Builders

Jan 9 2017 // A state regulation that took effect Jan. 1 requires Oregon construction contractors to make sure workers are protected from falls if work is done six or more feet above a surface. The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health...

Rhode Island Bill Would Require School Bus Seat Belts

Jan 9 2017 // A Rhode Island lawmaker has introduced legislation that would put seat belts in school buses. Coventry Republican Rep. Robert Nardolillo introduced the bill Friday to require a three-point seat belt for every passenger...

How to Help Insureds Manage Customer Privacy Risk

Jan 9 2017 // Insurance carriers and agents have come to learn that increased data can lead to greater risk for insureds, and they are increasingly advising businesses to disclose data collection practices while seeking to gain...

Court Rules Florida Workers’ Comp Rate Hike to Remain, For Now

Jan 9 2017 // Florida’s workers’ compensation rate increase of 14.5 percent will remain in effect while a Florida appeals court reviews a legal challenge to the state’s recent ratemaking process. The First District...

China in Midst of Insurtech Boom: Opinion

Jan 9 2017 // While China’s fintech boom continues unabated, another fast-growing phenomenon has gone almost unnoticed — so-called insurtech, the latest industry to be spawned by the intersection of online finance and the...

Midwest Regulation Report Card: States’ Grades Range from A to D

Jan 9 2017 // Grades assigned to the insurance regulatory systems in the Midwest states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin range from A to D in a...

What to Expect in EPLI Under President Trump

Jan 9 2017 // What to Expect in 2017 There is no shortage of liability issues hanging over employers these days as the Trump Administration assumes office. Some controversial rules could be rewritten while others could be rolled back or...

Southeast Regulation Report Card: North Carolina Flunks; Florida, South Carolina Dispute Grades

Jan 9 2017 // North Carolina ranks the worst of all 50 states when it comes to insurance regulation, according to a 2016 insurance regulation report card by an insurance industry think tank. The R Street Institute’s 2016 Insurance...

Peaple – Southeast

Jan 9 2017 // Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak will serve in 2017 as president-elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the nation’s insurance...

South Central Regulation Report Card: Texas’ Grade Rises, Arkansas’ Drops

Jan 9 2017 // No South Central state had the best score and none had the worst in a report recently released by a conservative-leaning research organization that annually assesses the effectiveness states’ insurance regulatory...

East Regulation Report Card: Vermont Ranks Best for 3rd Straight Year

Jan 9 2017 // The R Street Institute, an industry think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., found Vermont has the best insurance regulatory environment in the U.S. for the third straight year in its annual Insurance Regulation...

California DIR Releases Overview of New Laws

Jan 9 2017 // The California Department of Industrial Relations released its 2016 Legislative Digest, which summarizes new laws that impact workers and employers. Most of the chaptered bills took effect on Jan. 1. Highlights of those...

West Regulation Report Card: California Most Politicized State

Jan 9 2017 // A report gives California’s insurance regulatory environment low marks for auto body repair rules, the insurance commissioner’s call for insurers to divest from coal, its prior approval law and being the...

Federal Insurance Chief McRaith Leaving Post on Jan. 20

Jan 6 2017 // Michael McRaith, who has served as director the Federal Insurance Office since its creation in 2011, is resigning his post as of Jan. 20. as the Trump Administration begins. McRaith announced his plan to leave the agency...

Judge Rules VW Must Face U.S. Investor Lawsuit Over Diesel Scandal

Jan 6 2017 // Volkswagen AG and former Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn must defend an investor lawsuit in California over the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal, a U.S. judge has ruled. The plaintiffs, mostly...

Judge: Company May Reopen Ohio Brine Injection Well

Jan 5 2017 // The pumping of waste from hydraulic fracturing operations into a closed Ohio injection well is expected to resume after a judge’s ruling that the state’s oil-and-gas regulator failed to consider a new plan...

Texas Lawmakers to Seek Transparency in Government/Private Business Deals

Jan 5 2017 // Two Texas lawmakers want to tighten public records laws to make it harder for governments and the companies they do business with to keep financial information secret. Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat, and GOP Rep....