Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Administrative Judges Reject State Farm’s Proposed Hike
Oct 9 2007 // Two administrative law judges in Texas rejected State Farm’s plan to increase homeowner insurance rates, calling the hike too excessive in a proposed decision issued Oct. 5. State Farm Lloyds Inc. had appealed to the...
Washington insurers, trail lawyers at odds over treble damages
Oct 8 2007 // Study says Referendum 67 could cost $650 million With millions in campaign contributions and plenty of name-calling, trial lawyers and insurance companies in Washington are doing their best to spice up this fall’s...
Ky. Gov. Fletcher willing to compromise on medical tort reform
Oct 8 2007 // In a blunt assessment, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher told fellow doctors recently that chances of limiting pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice cases are bleak because of resistance from some state lawmakers....
Wind, water and legislative storm
Oct 8 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, H.R. 3121, by a vote of 263-146 on Sept. 27, heating up a topic already on fire. While supporting efforts to modernize and...
Proponents push plans for natural catastrophe insurance solutions
Oct 8 2007 // The need for solutions to address insurance costs and availability in natural catastrophe-vulnerable U.S. coastal regions — including a federal safety net — was the general theme at a public hearing in Mobile,...
Wind, water and legislative storm
Oct 8 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, H.R. 3121, by a vote of 263-146 on Sept. 27, heating up a topic already on fire. While supporting efforts to modernize and...
Maine laws on bike helmets, seat belts, teens’ cell phone use
Oct 8 2007 // Like other driving instructors across Maine, Dwight Hawkins has a new lesson to add to his course this fall: If you’re under 18 and behind the wheel, lose the cell phone. As of Sept. 20, a new Maine law will prohibit...
Fired-up over safer cigarettes
Oct 8 2007 // Now 21 states require cigarettes to be self-extinguishing Cigarettes sold in 21 states will be self-extinguishing after a strikingly high 15 states passed new laws this year to combat smoking-related blazes, the No. 1...
Mass. consumer groups say auto deregulation plan needs work
Oct 8 2007 // A Massachusetts consumer group and Attorney General Martha Coakley urged Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes to incorporate more consumer protections and ban the use of credit scores in her proposed auto insurance...
Maine cop hit by stolen police car covered
Oct 8 2007 // A sheriff’s deputy who was run over by his own police vehicle after it was stolen by a Jefferson man on Christmas five years ago is entitled to compensation from his personal car insurance company, Maine’s...
Supreme Court to hear case pitting federal v. state product liability laws
Oct 8 2007 // The Supreme Court said late last month that it will decide a case that centers on whether federal regulation of pharmaceuticals preempts state law. The case involves a product liability lawsuit against Pfizer’s...
House-passed flood insurance bill provides optional windstorm coverage
Oct 8 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a measure updating the nation’s flood insurance program that will give homeowners the option of purchasing windstorm coverage as part of their flood policy. The...
The offshore reinsurance tax debate resurfaces in Congress again
Oct 8 2007 // An industry executive, representing a coalition of 14 large U.S.-based insurance groups, told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee late last month that a major tax advantage for certain foreign insurance groups could threaten...
Maine laws on bike helmets, seat belts, teens’ cell phone use
Oct 8 2007 // Like other driving instructors across Maine, Dwight Hawkins has a new lesson to add to his course this fall: If you’re under 18 and behind the wheel, lose the cell phone. As of Sept. 20, a new Maine law will prohibit...
Fired-up over safer cigarettes
Oct 8 2007 // Cigarettes sold in 21 states will be self-extinguishing after a strikingly high 15 states passed new laws this year to combat smoking-related blazes, the No. 1 cause of home-fire deaths. “Fire-safe” cigarettes,...
News Currents
Oct 8 2007 // Mass. consumer groups say auto deregulation plan needs work A Massachusetts consumer group and Attorney General Martha Coakley urged Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes to incorporate more consumer protections and ban the...
Maine cop hit by stolen police car covered
Oct 8 2007 // A sheriff’s deputy who was run over by his own police vehicle after it was stolen by a Jefferson man on Christmas five years ago is entitled to compensation from his personal car insurance company, Maine’s...
News Currents
Oct 8 2007 // Ky. Gov. Fletcher wiling to compromise on medical tort reform In a blunt assessment, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher told fellow doctors recently that chances of limiting pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice...
Editor’s Note: Wind, water and legislative storm
Oct 8 2007 // At the center of the controversy is a provision by Congressman Gene Taylor of Mississippi that would expand the NFIP to include an optional multiple peril policy — to allow property owners to purchase wind and flood...
News Currents
Oct 8 2007 // Proponents push plans for natural catastrophe insurance solutions Federal backstop proposals aired at NAIC public hearing in Alabama The need for solutions to address insurance costs and availability in natural...
