Latest Oklahoma Headlines
All the headlines from our Oklahoma Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oklahoma Bill Would Raise Legal Age for Tobacco Use
Feb 16 2012 // Legislation approved by an Oklahoma House committee would make it illegal for anyone younger than 21 to purchase tobacco products. “The younger someone starts smoking, the harder it is to break the addiction later in...
Oklahoma Insurance Department Spokesman Resigns Over Offensive Email
Feb 13 2012 // The Oklahoma Insurance Department’s spokesman said he resigned on Feb. 10 after sending an official email to hundreds of people containing an off-color term for breasts. Glenn Craven told The Associated Press that he...
Uninsured Driver Bill Advances in Oklahoma House
Feb 10 2012 // Oklahoma law enforcement officers would have more leeway to stop those suspected of driving uninsured vehicles under a measure approved by a House committee. House Bill 2525, by state Rep. Steve Martin (R-Nowata,...
Oklahoma House Committee Approves Stricter Seat Belt Law
Feb 10 2012 // Legislation aimed at increasing road safety in Oklahoma was approved in the House Public Safety Committee. House Bill 2583, by state Rep. Jeannie McDaniel, would require every person in a vehicle to wear a properly...
Oklahoma Public Safety Officials Seek More Funding
Feb 9 2012 // Following three years of budget cuts, Oklahoma’s public safety officials told lawmakers their budgets need a boost to restore workforce levels and replace antiquated facilities and equipment. The heads of...
Oklahoma Commissioner Backs Bill to Use Premium Tax Funds for Firefighters
Feb 8 2012 // Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak announced his support for using insurance premium taxes to bolster the pension funds of the state’s firefighters. Doak said he supports House Bill 2320 introduced by Rep....
Oklahoma Bill Would Combat Prescription Drug Overdose
Feb 6 2012 // Under legislation by state Rep. Pat Ownbey, physicians could not prescribe a controlled substance without first using the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Prescription Monitoring Program to see what has already been prescribed...
Declarations
Feb 6 2012 // No More Funds-Holding “I have received numerous constituent complaints regarding a mortgage company holding onto funds for weeks while homeowners face emergency repairs that must be made quickly.” —Oklahoma...
Workers’ Compensation on Legislative Agenda for Oklahoma State Chamber
Feb 1 2012 // Taxation, workers’ compensation insurance and health care coverage top the State Chamber of Oklahoma’s agenda for the 2012 legislative session that kicks off on Feb. 6. The State Chamber’s business agenda...
Oklahoma Officials Learn Lessons from 2002 Ice Storm
Jan 31 2012 // Communications have been modernized, utility outage response has improved and emergency response officials in north-central Oklahoma are better prepared for natural disasters 10 years after one of the worst ice storms in...
Oklahoma Lawmakers File State Insurance Opt-Out Bill
Jan 30 2012 // Two Oklahoma lawmakers have filed legislation to increase the number of state employees who could opt out of state insurance coverage. The measure expands a 2011 law that allowed state employees and lawmakers to refuse...
Oklahoma Company Sued Over Accident That Hurt Teens
Jan 27 2012 // The parents of two teenagers who were severely injured in a grain elevator accident in Oklahoma have filed negligence lawsuits against the business where the boys worked. Cherie Gannon, Lee Zander and Rhonda Zander filed...
Lawmaker: Oklahoma Bill Would Help Homeowners with Insurance Claims
Jan 26 2012 // A bill filed in Oklahoma aims to help homeowners with insurance claim payments issued through mortgage companies. Legislation filed by Oklahoma state Rep. Charles Ortega would give mortgage companies no more than 10 days...
Oklahoma Insurance Department Trims Budget by $675K in 2011
Jan 26 2012 // Oklahoma’s top insurance regulator says the department spent nearly $675,000 less in 2011 than it did in 2010. For the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2011, the insurance department spent $11,160,855.28 compared to...
Oklahoma City Teen Featured in Distracted-Driving Campaign
Jan 23 2012 // A new national campaign warning against distracted driving features the story of an Oklahoma City teenager who was killed in a car crash while talking on her cell phone. The U.S. Department of Transportation video...
Web Exchange
Jan 23 2012 // IJ Video Highlights As the Market Turns, What Is Broker’s Role? Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv The soft market is turning, perhaps not dramatically but it is turning, says Jerry Sullivan, chairman, The Sullivan...
Oklahoma to Require Medical Certification for Some Commercial Drivers
Jan 23 2012 // On Jan. 30, 2012, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (DPS) will begin adding medical certification status and medical examiner’s certificate information to commercial driver’s license system (CDLIS)...
Oklahoma Commissioner Disappointed in MLR Waiver Denial
Jan 23 2012 // But State Lawmaker Thinks It’s a Good Thing for Consumers Oklahoma’s top insurance regulator believes the medical insurance market is headed for “disruption” as a result of the medical loss ratio...
Oklahoma’s GHS Property and Casualty Insurance Co. Ratings Downgraded
Jan 19 2012 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to B++ (Good) from A- (Excellent) and issuer credit rating to “bbb+” from “a-” of GHS Property and Casualty Insurance Co. (GHS), located in...
More Than $25.2M in Virginia Quake Aid OK’d
Jan 18 2012 // More than $25.2 million in federal disaster aid has been approved to help residents, businesses and local governments in Virginia recover from last summer’s earthquake. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says...
