Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Approves Homeowners Underinsurance Regulations
Dec 31 2010 // California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved regulations designed to combat underinsurance and may require insurance agents and brokers to complete additional training. The regulations will take...
2010 Was Year of 20 Million Recalls for Car Makers
Dec 31 2010 // Automakers recalled about 20 million vehicles in 2010, led by high-profile recalls by Toyota that prompted new scrutiny of the auto industry’s safety record. The number of recalls this year was the largest in the...
Calif. Regulator Urges Gov.-Elect Brown to Preserve Workers’ Comp Reforms
Dec 31 2010 // Calif. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced he has sent a letter to Gov.-Elect Jerry Brown to urge him to preserve the workers’ compensation insurance reforms that have reduced the Workers’...
Top 5 Things Affecting Excess & Surplus Market in 2011
Dec 30 2010 // It has been a challenging few years for those in the excess and surplus (E&S) lines insurance market. An endless soft market, extreme competition from the standard markets, and a bad economy left wholesale and retail...
How to Fix Nation’s Flood Insurance Program
Dec 30 2010 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is seeking a top-to-bottom review of the efforts to reform the nation’s flood insurance program. The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) has...
Federal Judge Tosses Pennsylvania Bar Patron’s Shooting Lawsuit
Dec 30 2010 // A federal judge in Pittsburgh has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a bar patron who claims he and another customer should have been searched for weapons before they shot one another in February. Forty-two-year-old Thomas...
Ohio Supreme Court Ruling Favors Bus Wreck Survivors
Dec 29 2010 // The Ohio Supreme Court says a university’s insurance coverage extended to a charter bus that crashed, killing five student baseball players and two others. The 5-2 ruling issued Dec. 28 is a victory for families and...
Southeast’s Top Stories: Disasters That Happened and 1 That Didn’t
Dec 23 2010 // The top insurance stories in the Southeast in 2010 included several disasters that caused considerable death and destruction in the region and one that didn’t do as much harm as feared. The April 20 blowout of...
Catastrophes Top 2010 List of Major Global Insurance Events
Dec 23 2010 // Natural and man-made catastrophes topped the list of the most significant events in 2010, with three major earthquakes, a near record number of hurricanes, some serious typhoons and windstorms, a volcanic eruption and a...
AIG to Pay States $146 Million In Workers Compensation Settlement
Dec 23 2010 // American International Group Inc. (AIG) has agreed to pay $146.5 million in fines and additional taxes to state insurance regulators for alleged under-reporting of premiums to states more than a decade ago. The company...
New York Suit Against Ernst & Young Fills Regulatory Gap
Dec 23 2010 // In choosing Ernst & Young as his target in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filled what looks destined to be a permanent gap in regulators’ responses to the...
Democratic Congress Productive But Unpopular
Dec 23 2010 // Perhaps never before has a U.S. Congress done more and been liked less than the one controlled by President Barack Obama’s Democrats that ended Wednesday. It wrapped up its two-year legislative cycle with a crush of...
2010’s Top Insurance Stories in the West
Dec 23 2010 // In 2009, independent insurance agents and brokers faced a “perfect storm” with the economic downturn, premiums at a fraction of what they used to be, and unemployment and home foreclosure rates up, said Kevin...
Oklahoma Legislator to Continue Push for Workers’ Comp Reform
Dec 22 2010 // An Oklahoma state representative says he’s prepared to introduce legislation to further improve the state’s workers’ compensation system. Rep. Mark McCullough says the recent recommendations of the Task...
President Obama Expected to Sign Food Safety Overhaul Bill
Dec 22 2010 // The ailing U.S. food safety system moved closer Tuesday toward its biggest overhaul in more than 70 years after the House passed legislation that would increase inspections and give regulators the power to recall tainted...
State Inaction Risks Loss of Surplus Lines Premium Tax Revenue
Dec 21 2010 // The States appear poised, through inaction, to leave untold millions of dollars in premium tax revenue “on the table” when the Nonadmitted Insurance and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA) becomes the law of the land...
Insurance Vital to Alabama Coast Long-Term Plan, Says Commission
Dec 21 2010 // Coastal Alabama should seize the BP Gulf oil disaster as an opportunity for “resiliency planning” that will not only help the region recover from the oil damage but also put it in a position to better recover...
Fact or Fiction? Insurance Tidbits of Known and Little-Known Information
Dec 20 2010 // Have you ever wondered what big events helped shape regulation of the current U.S. insurance industry? Or if drivers of certain cars have more risk? What about the most attractive insurance job in the industry? These are...
Congress Sends Tax Deal to Obama for Signing
Dec 17 2010 // Congress gave final approval late Thursday to the deal President Barack Obama and Republicans made to extend expiring tax cuts — a high-stakes gamble to create jobs at a cost of deepening the U.S. debt. Over...
Georgia Supreme Court Upholds Insurers in 2 Uninsured Motorist Cases
Dec 16 2010 // The Supreme Court of Georgia has ruled in favor of insurance companies in two cases involving how much people injured in car wrecks should get under uninsured motorists coverage. At issue was whether the two injured...
