Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Meningitis Outbreak Spurs Calls to Boost Pharmacy Oversight
Nov 14 2012 // U.S. and state health regulators called on Congress on Tuesday to strengthen federal oversight of compounding pharmacies as lawmakers prepared for two days of hearings on a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak linked to a...
Willis Launches ‘DARCstar’ Directors’ All Risks Cover in Asia-Pacific Region
Nov 14 2012 // Willis Group Holdings announced the launch of its directors’ all risks cover (DARCstar) in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, which it said offers “unique” coverage. Willis explained that “DARCstar...
Q&A With Attorneys on Emerging Business Insurance Topics
Nov 13 2012 // As companies large and small grapple with losses in Sandy’s aftermath, a number of critical — and costly — business questions have emerged. Darlene Alt and Robert DiUbaldo, two experienced insurance...
South Carolina Names Insurance Lobbyist Farmer as Insurance Chief
Nov 13 2012 // Ray FarmerSouth Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has named Ray Farmer as the state’s new insurance regulator. Farmer is a lobbyist with the property/casualty insurance trade group, the American Insurance Association. Farmer...
Arizona Judge Oks $3.7M In Restitution For Wildfire
Nov 13 2012 // A judge says two cousins who accidentally started the largest wildfire in Arizona history will have to pay more than $3.7 million in restitution. The amount covers the loss of homes and other property, cleanup from the...
Texas Commissioner: Windstorm Will Be an Issue for Texas Lawmakers
Nov 13 2012 // Among the hundreds of bills filed by Texas lawmakers on the first day of filing for the 2013 legislative session are a handful of proposals related to property/casualty insurance. There are bound to be more, but one...
Plaintiffs, BP Urge Judge to Approve $7.8 Billion Oil Spill Settlement
Nov 9 2012 // BP Plc and lawyers representing over 100,000 individuals and businesses claiming economic and medical damages from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Thursday urged a U.S. judge to approve a proposed $7.8 billion...
Risk Managers’ Top 3 Concerns: Interest Rates, Currency Markets, Regulations
Nov 9 2012 // Interest rates, volatile currency markets and changing regulations are the top three things keeping risk managers from their sleep. Those are the conclusions summarized in an article on the Lloyd’s web site that...
Arch Insurance Group Launches New Public Company D&O Policy
Nov 9 2012 // Arch Insurance Group, a member of Arch Capital Group Ltd., has launched Arch Essential D&O, a primary policy specifically designed to protect directors and officers from the increasing risk exposures associated with...
State Elections Wrapup: Some Partisan Realignment; 5 Incumbent Insurance Chiefs Win
Nov 8 2012 // Neil Alldredge has been searching for the unifying “theme” in the results of Nov. 6 state elections around the country but he says it has not been easy to identify one. As senior vice president for state and...
Post-Election Congress Expected to Target Crop Insurance
Nov 8 2012 // Federally subsidized crop insurance will be a big target for lawmakers looking to cut the budget deficit in the lame-duck session of Congress opening next week, agricultural policy experts agreed the morning after a...
Election Gamble Backfires for Financial, Energy Firms: Commentary
Nov 7 2012 // “Elections have consequences, and Eric, I won,” President Barack Obama famously told House Republican Whip Eric Cantor shortly after his first inauguration in January 2009. Four years later, Wall Street as well...
State Elections to Decide Insurance Commissioner, Ballot Initiatives, Court Contests
Nov 5 2012 // For the insurance industry, there is more at stake in the Nov. 6 election than who goes to or stays in the White House and Congress. The insurance industry will be watching who wins the gubernatorial races in 11 states,...
Surplus Lines: Regulators Vetting of Alien Nonadmitted Insurers
Nov 5 2012 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) acts as the trade association for state insurance commissioners. The Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2010 (NRRA) delegated to the NAIC responsibility for...
Florida Workers’ Comp Rates Going Up
Nov 5 2012 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said he will approve a 6.1 percent rate increase to become effective January 1, 2013 for workers’ compensation. The decision was based on a filing submitted for insurers...
Businesses Call for Controls on Litigation Funding Firms
Nov 5 2012 // A business lobby group wants the U.S. Congress to regulate companies that provide financing for commercial lawsuits, describing the practice as “coercive enterprise.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for...
Texas Lawmaker: TWIA’s Ike Litigation Costs Still Rising
Nov 5 2012 // Texas’ insurer of last resort for coastal property has paid out more than $1.2 billion in individual litigation costs related to 2008’s Hurricane Ike, one state lawmaker says. Information released by Rep. Larry...
Will Regulatory Reform Trigger Doomsday for Captives?
Nov 5 2012 // If you’re startled by this headline, you’re not alone. Until recently, the words “reform” and “captive” were rarely used in the same sentence. That’s because captive insurance...
Report: FDA Needs New Authority Over Compounding Pharmacies
Nov 5 2012 // The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s power to regulate compounded drugs similar to those linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak is legally nonbinding and lacks the authority of stringent standards imposed on drug...
Hospital, Physician Professional Liability Undergoing Change: Aon
Nov 5 2012 // The way health care is delivered and financed is undergoing major change, and this is reshaping the risks that hospitals and physicians face on a daily basis. Among other challenges, hospital risk managers are grappling...
