Latest Washington Headlines
All the headlines from our Washington Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Washington Commissioner, Insurers Debate Credit Scoring Use
Jan 21 2010 // Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is seeking to prohibit the use of credit history, education and income for rating and underwriting personal insurance — the effect of which would likely result in...
Washington Saves $128 Million By Fighting Fraud
Jan 7 2010 // The fight against fraud in the workers’ compensation system brought in $128 million to Washington last year, according to a new report from the state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). In addition to...
CNA Chief Motamed: What’s Ahead for CNA, Economy, Industry
Jan 6 2010 // After 30 years at Chubb Corp, Thomas Motamed joined Chicago-based commercial lines insurer CNA Financial in January 2009 as chairman and CEO. In this edited interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrew Simpson, Motamed...
Washington To Tackle Credit Scoring, Streamline Agent/Broker Licensing
Jan 5 2010 // Bills to improve health care, protect consumers, ban the use of credit scoring , streamline the licensing of agents and brokers, and broadening the definition of what’s considered “emergency care” are all...
Washington Not Increasing Minimum Wage in 2010
Dec 31 2009 // Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries reminded employers that for the first time since voters passed an initiative 11 years ago indexing the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index, the state minimum...
Levees Beneath Threatened Washington Dam Called Weak
Dec 30 2009 // Half a dozen stretches of levee on the Green River in Washington, below the threatened Howard Hanson Dam, are porous and unstable, according to a Seattle Times report. Those stretches, between Auburn and Tukmila, are...
Washington Touts Saving Public $300 Million for Personal Insurance
Dec 29 2009 // Rate reviews by the Washington state insurance commissioner’s office have shaved more than $300 million from Washingtonians’ auto and homeowners insurance bills over the past decade. Last week the...
Special Reuters Report: America’s Route to Recovery
Dec 29 2009 // When Bob Hagan was a boy in Youngstown, Ohio, people equated the coke dust they swept off their doorsteps each day with opportunity, for it came from the steel mills that built this city. After graduating from high school...
Washington Man Sues Idaho Over Pothole
Dec 28 2009 // A Spokane, Wash., man has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the state of Idaho for injuries he says resulted from a crash caused by potholes on Interstate 90 in northern Idaho. Kasey Crick, 22, filed the lawsuit Dec. 18...
Washington Keeps Auto Rate Down $26 Million
Dec 22 2009 // Rate reviews by the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s office reduced proposed automobile insurance rates by $26 million over the first 10 months of this year, a reduction of about 1 percent. In 2008, the rate...
Washington Auto Glass Installer Pleads to Insurance Fraud
Dec 21 2009 // A Battle Ground, Washington, auto glass installer who overbilled an insurance company for years has pleaded guilty to first-degree theft. Robert T. Wooster, 51, doing business as Dr. Bob’s Auto Glass and DRB...
Washington Commissioner Wins National Consumer Award
Dec 8 2009 // Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has received the “Excellence in Consumer Advocacy Award” given out annually by consumer advisors to a nationwide association of insurance regulators. The...
Wells Fargo Insurance Buys Agencies in Florida, Washington
Dec 8 2009 // Wells Fargo Insurance Services, Inc. has acquired iLeader Risk Management Solutions, a single office, insurance brokerage located in Tampa, Fla., and Orca Bay Benefits, LLC, a single office, employee benefits insurance...
Declarations
Dec 6 2009 // Firefighting at Night “Nighttime air attack is a standard. … Such action was not taken because the USFS policy prohibits night flying. Would night flying have made a difference? No one can say for sure, but...
Washington Warns Green Valley Residents about Flood Insurance
Dec 4 2009 // With a recent check showing that fewer than 1 in 4 of the buildings in the Green River flood plain have federal flood insurance, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is strongly urging more owners and renters to buy...
Washington Domestic Partner Law Goes Into Effect
Dec 3 2009 // Washington State’s new domestic partnership law goes into effect today, and that means wherever a policy says ‘spouse’ the policy must cover registered domestic partners, Insurance Commissioner Mike...
Washington Rates Workers’ Compensation Rate
Dec 2 2009 // Workers’ compensation rates in the state of Washington will climb by an average of 7.6 percent next year under changes adopted by state officials. State Labor and Industries Director Judy Schurke (SHUR’-key)...
Washington State Report Details Cost of Medically Uninsured
Nov 19 2009 // The number of Washingtonians with no health insurance will soon reach 1 million, according to a report issued yesterday by the state’s Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. Kreidler also predicts that the cost of...
Winds Headed for Coastal Washington State
Nov 16 2009 // The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for coastal areas of Washington State. The warning covers six areas: San Juan County, Whatcom County, Skagit County, the Adiralty Inlet area, the North Coast, and...
Senator Kerry, UN’s Ban Ki-moon Upbeat on Climate Bill Prospects
Nov 11 2009 // U.S. Senator John Kerry said Tuesday he will try to “outline” a compromise climate control bill before December’s international global warming conference and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave an...
