Latest Washington Headlines
All the headlines from our Washington Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Ratings Recap: American Community, Washington Fire, DHC Group
Mar 10 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to ‘D’ (Poor) from C+ (Marginal) and issuer credit rating to “c” from “b-” of Michigan-based American Community Mutual...
The Worst Is Yet to Come
Mar 8 2010 // Deepening State Budget Deficits in 2010 and 2011 Could Harm the Insurance Industry While 2009 was a tough year to do business, state and city leaders say 2010 and 2011 will be even tougher — the outcome of which could...
Washington Lawmakers Approve JUA For Flood Insurance
Mar 5 2010 // The Washington State Senate has approved a flood insurance bill that would allow the insurance commissioner to create a market assistance plan and, if necessary, a joint underwriting association if the flood insurance...
Poll: Hand-Held Cell-Phone Use Continues to Rise in Washington
Mar 3 2010 // As Washington state legislators consider strengthening cell-phone and texting-related laws, a recent poll by PEMCO Insurance reveals that the number of Washingtonians who admit to illegally using a cell phone without a...
Water Pipeline Protection Offered to Homeowners in Washington
Feb 25 2010 // Home Emergency Insurance Solutions will provide its Water Service Line Protection program directly to select area homeowners in Washington. The plan provides homeowners with emergency solutions for unexpected repairs to...
Washington Fined Insurers More Than $400,000 in 2009
Feb 23 2010 // Washington state insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler issued more than $400,000 in fines in 2009, as well as revoking the licenses of several insurance agents, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner...
Washington Regulator Wants Emergency Flood Insurance
Feb 21 2010 // Washington is one step closer to allowing the creation of a flood insurance joint underwriting association (JUA), a publicly sponsored, temporary, not-for-profit insurer of last resort to provide flood insurance when the...
Washington Proposal to Ban Insurers’ Use of Credit Scores Stalls
Feb 18 2010 // Washington insurers can continue to use credit scores when rating and underwriting insurance, at least for the time being. Washington Senate Bill 6252, which would have banned credit-based insurance scores, failed to come...
Washington Flood JUA Legislation Passes in House
Feb 18 2010 // Washington House passed legislation allowing for the creation of a flood insurance joint underwriting association (JUA) as an insurer of last resort for businesses in the Green River Valley. House Bill 2560, which passed...
Special Reuters Report: Inside Toyota’s Epic Breakdown
Feb 10 2010 // Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s most dominant and profitable automaker, was not accustomed to outsiders telling it what to do, let alone some obscure bureaucrat from the United States, whose own car industry was on...
Washington Closer To Creating Emergency Insurance for Flooding
Feb 10 2010 // Washington is one step closer to allowing the creation of a flood insurance joint underwriting association (JUA), a publicly sponsored, temporary, not-for-profit insurer of last resort to provide insurance when certain...
Collapse Concerns Grow as Snowstorm Slams Eastern States
Feb 8 2010 // Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. were particularly battered by a weekend snowstorm that caused massive power outages and resulted in moderate structural damage to areas in the region. At least two deaths were...
IBA West Pacific Northwest Chapter Joins Big ‘I’ Washington
Feb 7 2010 // Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West (IBA West) has disbanded its Pacific Northwest Chapter and joined forces with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Washington (Big “I” Washington). According...
Washington Man Pleads Guilty to Workers’ Comp Fraud
Feb 4 2010 // A Ritzville, Wash., man has pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property in connection with illegally collecting workers’ compensation benefits while collecting wages from a nursing home managed by his...
Washington Workplace Violence-Related Deaths Climbed in 2009
Feb 2 2010 // The slayings last year of six law enforcement officers, as well as several workplace suicides, caused deaths due to workplace violence to spike upward in Washington State, the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I)...
IBA West Pacific Northwest Chapter Joins Big ‘I’ Washington
Feb 1 2010 // Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West (IBA West) has disbanded its Pacific Northwest Chapter and joined forces with the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Washington (Big “I” Washington). According...
Confie Seguros Acquires Vern Fonk Insurance Services
Feb 1 2010 // New York-based Confie Seguros, a provider of auto insurance with an emphasis on serving Hispanic consumers, has acquired Puget Sound, Ore.-based Vern Fonk Insurance Services Inc. Vern Fonk serves Washington and Oregon. The...
Builders’ Lobby Sponsors Washington Workers’ Comp Initiative
Jan 25 2010 // A politically active construction-industry group wants voters to decide whether Washington’s workers’ compensation system should face private competition, a move opposed by organized labor and top Democratic...
Labor & Industries: Washington’s Workers’ Comp System Is Sound
Jan 24 2010 // Characterizations by a recent Washington State Auditor’s report on the state’s workers’ compensation insurance system has the state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) worried that people will...
Washington to Tackle Credit Scoring, Streamline Agent/Broker Licensing
Jan 24 2010 // Bills to ban the use of credit scoring, streamline the licensing of agents and brokers, and improve health care are all on Washington’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s (OIC) legislative agenda for 2010....
