Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
How Changes to Federal and State Law Impact Golf and Country Clubs
Aug 31 2009 // Changes to state and federal law over the past few years may prove to be no gimme for golf and country clubs. In fact, since many club owners and managers are unaware of the potential impact of these laws, a simple...
Texas Releases Performance Results for Workers’ Comp Carriers
Aug 31 2009 // The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation has posted on its Web site the 2009 Performance-Based Oversight (PBO) Results for workers’ compensation insurance carriers and selected health...
Hill County Insurance Joins Combined Agents Group
Aug 28 2009 // Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA) has added Hill County Insurance Agency Inc. in Hillsboro, Texas, as a member, bringing the group’s agency membership total to 42. CAA has agency members in Texas, Oklahoma and...
Beacon Hill Associates Opens South Central Regional Office in Texas
Aug 26 2009 // Beacon Hill Associates Inc. has opened a new regional office in Plano, Texas, and has added Brett Amick as assistant vice president. The company serves agents in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico. Beacon Hill...
States Give ‘Thumbs Up’ to Fingerprinting Insurance Producers
Aug 21 2009 // Don’t be alarmed, but there are convicted criminals roaming around the country acting as insurance producers. They could be drunk drivers, robbers, forgers, possibly even rapists. They got their producer licenses in...
Texas Mutual Announces $200K Verdict in Premium Fraud Case
Aug 21 2009 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that Erection Professionals Inc. in Pleasanton has pleaded guilty to workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. A Travis County district court ordered the company to repay...
Central Texas MGA Adds New Carriers for Various Product Lines
Aug 20 2009 // Tejas American General Agency (TAGA), an independent privately-owned managing general agency based in the Austin, Texas, area, has recently added three new markets – Insurors Indemnity, Gotham Insurance Company and...
Galveston Firefighters Receive Fireman’s Fund, Texas Agent Grant
Aug 19 2009 // The Galveston (Texas) Fire Department is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ike, and in addition to flood damage to various firehouses, several of the department’s portable radios were damaged or...
USAA to Lower Homeowners Rates for Most Policyholders in Texas
Aug 14 2009 // San Antonio, Texas-based USAA has announced it has filed a plan with the Texas Department of Insurance to reduce its homeowners insurance rates in the state by an average of 6 percent. The reduction will equate to an...
Texas’ Specialty Insurance Managers Names New Vice Presidents
Aug 13 2009 // Texas-based Specialty Insurance Managers Inc. recently appointed several new vice presidents. Karen Ashton was named vice president of the Arlington, Texas, branch. Bonnie Stalkfleet is now vice president of the Granbury...
Damaged Southeast Texas Apartments Evacuated 11 Months After Ike
Aug 12 2009 // An evacuation in Southeast Texas nearly 11 months after Hurricane Ike is being linked to the storm. An engineer determined three apartment buildings in La Marque appear to be twisting on their foundations and risk...
Seatbelts, Cellphones, Handguns Addressed in New Texas Traffic Laws
Aug 12 2009 // The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has issued a summary of new traffic laws passed by the Texas Legislature that are set to become effective Sept. 1, 2009. Among those laws that may affect the property casualty...
Texas Windstorm Pool Reports Waiver Surcharge Commission Change
Aug 11 2009 // The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) reported that HB 4409 passed by the 81st Legislature, requires several changes for TWIA policies. TWIA issued a bulletin to agents as a reminder that the first of these...
Agents, Meteorologists Gear Up for Annual Texas Hurricane Tour
Aug 10 2009 // For the fourth year in a row insurance spokesmen will team with meteorologists from the National Weather Service and independent insurance agents to warn Texas coastal residents of the potential dangers of hurricanes. This...
Texas’ June Enforcement Actions Result in $441K in Fines, Restitution
Aug 10 2009 // Enforcement actions taken by Texas Commissioner Mike Geeslin that became final during June included 18 license revocations, five license denials and fines and restitution totaling $441,318, the Texas Department of...
Texas Agency Spending Some Hurricane Recovery Money
Aug 10 2009 // A Texas agency that was questioned for not spending much of the money it received to help 2005 hurricane victims has improved but still has spent only 31 percent of the funds, a state auditor’s report found. The...
Unsafe Truck, Bus Operators Told to Shut Down Are Still on Roads
Aug 3 2009 // Hundreds of tractor-trailer and bus companies ordered to shut down because of federal safety violations ranging from suspended licenses to possible drug use have stayed on the road by using different names, investigators...
The Trouble With the ‘Acts of God’ Defense in Texas
Aug 3 2009 // The phrase “act of God” has a rich pedigree and interesting etymological history. Under Roman law, mercantile obligations arose from duties and contracts. If someone had a legal or contractual duty to do...
Why Bankruptcy Rates Vary By State
Aug 3 2009 // State Policies, More Than Differences Among People, Tend to Influence Bankruptcy Rates In a previous edition of Insurance Journal (July 20, 2009, “Tackling Client Bankruptcy: How to Help Clients Work Through the...
States Give a ‘Thumbs Up’ to Fingerprinting Insurance Producers
Aug 3 2009 // Regulators Say Fingerprinting Keeps Criminals Out of the Business Don’t be alarmed, but there are convicted criminals roaming around the country acting as insurance producers. They could be robbers, forgers, possibly...
