Latest Washington Headlines
All the headlines from our Washington Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Washington Senate Passes Workers Compensation Change Opposed by Labor
Mar 7 2011 // The Washington state Senate approved a measure Saturday that would drastically change the state’s workers compensation system by establishing an option for lump sum settlements. The 34-15 vote was a significant win...
Washington Refines Pay-As-You-Drive Legislation
Mar 7 2011 // A Washington Senate Committee has refined a proposal to allow drivers’ insurance rates to be based primarily on the number of miles driven per year. The PAYD bill, Senate Bill 5730, would allow insurers to offer...
Washington Fines Puyallup Firm $437,300 in Asbestos Cases
Feb 28 2011 // Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries has cited a Puyallup asbestos abatement company for several willful violations and fined the firm more than $400,000. The action deals with two abatement projects the...
Washington Refines Pay-As-You-Drive Legislation
Feb 18 2011 // Washington’s Senate Committee on Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance has refined a proposal to allow drivers’ insurance rates to be based primarily on the number of miles driven per year. The PAYD...
Washington Workplace Fatalities Climb 32%
Feb 18 2011 // Workplace deaths in Washington state climbed in 2010, with 86 men and women killed due to job-related trauma, according to a report on work-related fatalities by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). The...
Washington Considers Pay-As-You-Drive Insurance
Feb 17 2011 // Washington is considering a proposal that would allow drivers’ insurance rates to be based primarily on the number of miles driven per year. Supporters of the pay-as-you-drive bill, Senate Bill 5730, said pricing...
Washington To Process Producer Licenses Online
Feb 17 2011 // The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner has adopted new online insurance licensing rules that affect licensed agents, brokers and insurance companies, and people who provide insurance continuing education and...
Capital Insurance Group Adds Account Executives in Washington
Feb 15 2011 // Monterey, Calif.-based Capital Insurance Group (CIG), a regional property and casualty insurer serving the Western United States, has added Kathy Rongey and Sheila Donovan to the Underwriting Division in Washington...
Business Moves
Feb 7 2011 // Brown & Brown, Balcos Insurance, Mike Howard Insurance Brown & Brown Inc. subsidiary Brown & Brown of Washington Inc. acquired substantially all of the assets of Balcos Insurance, Inc. and M C H Inc. of Seattle...
Brown & Brown Names 4 Regional Vice Presidents
Feb 7 2011 // Florida-based insurance agency Brown & Brown, Inc. has named regional vice presidents in Washington, Florida, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. Eric E. Anderson, Anthony M. Grippa, Thomas Keith Huval and Richard A. Knudson,...
Regulatory Uncertainty Impeding Economic Recovery
Feb 7 2011 // The goal of today’s hearing is to take a step back and look at the economy from two points of view. First, the economy as it is perceived by economists and academics through the lens of their historical analysis and...
Wash. lawmakers Wade into Red-Light Camera Debate
Feb 4 2011 // Washington lawmakers are wading into a growing debate over the use of cameras to ticket speeders and people who run red lights. Initiative promoter Tim Eyman and local activists filed initiatives in Bellingham, Longview,...
The Uneasy Ties of Americans and Their Government
Feb 4 2011 // Back when the big health care law was little more than a dream, a prominent figure spoke out against the idea of forcing people to get health insurance. He said that would be like solving homelessness by passing a law...
Washington Approves 12% Workers’ Comp Rate Hike
Jan 31 2011 // Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has approved an increase to the state’s workers’ compensation premium rates by an average 12 percent or 6.5 cents per hour for 2011. The new...
Washington Fines Six Chubb Subsidiaries $534,000
Jan 25 2011 // Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has ordered six subsidiaries of Chubb & Son to pay a $534,000 fine for violating state insurance laws. Federal Insurance Co., Pacific Indemnity Co., Great Northern...
People
Jan 24 2011 // Washington D.C.-based broker Ames & Gough has named Christine Payne as senior account manager. Payne, who has more than 25 years of insurance industry experience, will oversee service and insurance placements for a...
Washington Governor Wants to Reform Workers’ Comp
Jan 24 2011 // Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed several changes to the state’s workers’ compensation system to help the state out of the recession and support the vitality of businesses. She estimates the proposed...
States Grapple with Healthcare Overhaul
Jan 24 2011 // True or false: States suing to overturn core requirements of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul are refusing to carry out the law. If you said ‘true,” you’d be wrong. Republican state...
Washington Fraud-Fighting Program Collects $137 Million
Jan 20 2011 // Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries’ Fraud Prevention and Compliance Program brought in $137.4 million in 2010 for its fraud fighting efforts. The total, detailed in L&I’s annual report...
Insurers Fined More Than $580,000 in Washington
Jan 19 2011 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler fined insurers more than $580,000 in 2010 for violations including illegal telephone solicitation and overcharging customers. Kreidler also revoked the licenses of more than...
