Latest California Headlines

All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.

California Cites Garment Contractors $570K, Some Lacked Workers’ Comp

Sep 10 2018 // The California Labor Commissioner’s Office has cited six Los Angeles area garment contractors $573,704 for labor law violations after uncovering a scheme where the contractors illegally operated under one license to...

Northern California Wildfire Rages, Abandoned Trucks Litter Highway

Sep 7 2018 // An explosive wildfire closed down dozens of miles of a major California freeway only weeks after a nearby blaze that left neighborhoods in ruins and killed eight people.The Delta Fire erupted Wednesday afternoon and within...

Labor Secretary: Cost Savings in California Workers’ Comp $1.3B Annually

Sep 6 2018 // Cost savings in the California worker’s compensation system from reforms made five years ago are far more massive than projected, according to David Lanier, secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development...

Claims from California Summer Fires Top $845M, Commissioner Blames Climate Change

Sep 6 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Thursday announced that insured residential and commercial losses from the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires topped $845 million and are now counted among the most destructive...

California Comp Quarterly Report: Written Premium on Pace with Last year, but an Overall Declining Trend

Sep 5 2018 // Worker’s compensation rates in California have been going down a while, and that has had an impact on written premium, a report released on Wednesday shows.The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of...

California Bridge Under Construction Gets Sensors to Gather Earthquake Data

Sep 5 2018 // A replacement bridge under construction at the second-busiest port in the U.S. isn’t just a crucial route for cargo trucks and Southern California commuters – it’s a concrete-and-steel science experiment for...

California Legislators Dodge Action as Utility Frets on Fire Costs

Sep 5 2018 // As California’s lawmakers debated late Friday night under the statehouse capitol dome in Sacramento, the city’s utility district kept the lights on for them. But the legislators fell short for the electricity...

Jones Warns the Feds Won’t Bail Out California When the ‘Big One’ Strikes

Sep 4 2018 // A week and a half after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake off the coast of Oregon reminded West Coast residents of the ever-present seismic risk below their feet, The New York Times cast its gaze on California, where only about...

California Lawmakers OK Bill to Help PG&E Pay for Wildfire Costs

Sep 4 2018 // California lawmakers passed legislation to help utility giant PG&E Corp. pay for billions of dollars in potential liabilities from wildfires that ravaged Northern California wine country last year.The state Assembly...

Accident Report Confirms Apple Still in Autonomous Car Race

Sep 4 2018 // An Apple Inc. self-driving car was rear-ended while merging onto an expressway near the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters this month, the company said in an accident report posted on Friday that confirmed the...

California’s 1st Cannabis Insurer Expands Coverage

Sep 3 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones approved a filing from Golden Bear Insurance Co. amending its California Cannabis program product to lower rates, expand coverage options, and expand the classes of business...

California Court Rules Workers’ Comp Law Provides Exclusive Remedy in Utilization Review Case

Sep 3 2018 // The California Supreme Court issued an opinion in late August that utilization review physicians cannot be sued for malpractice, upholding established law that the workers’ comp system provides injured employees an...

Bill to Expand Harassment Training Requirements Passes California Assembly

Aug 31 2018 // The California Assembly on Thursday voted unanimously on a plan to address workplace sexual harassment and expand a requirement for harassment training to small businesses.Current law requires all employers with 50 or more...

Woodruff Sawyer in California Names Scales Vice President

Aug 31 2018 // San Francisco, Calif.-based Woodruff Sawyer has named Jen Scales vice president and account executive in its employee benefits practice. Scales has more than 15 years of experience in the insurance industry, having spent...

EEOC Sues California Restaurant Chain Preferred Hiring Females Over Males

Aug 30 2018 // Burgers & Beer, a chain of Southern California restaurants, violated federal law when it denied males with the same employment opportunities as their female counterparts, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity...

New Workers’ Comp Program for California’s Cannabis Industry

Aug 30 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today announced a new workers’ compensation insurance program for California’s cannabis industry.The program was created by Atlas General Insurance Services to serve...

School District in California Settles Sex Abuse Cases for $15M

Aug 30 2018 // A Southern California school district agreed to pay more than $15 million to settle lawsuits by eight former students who say they were sexually abused by teachers and staff members, attorneys announced this week.The three...

FDA Says Coffee Doesn’t Deserve California’s Cancer Risk Warning

Aug 30 2018 // The top U.S. regulator of food and health products endorsed a plan by California officials to exempt coffee from a state law that would have made Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and other coffee shops add a cancer warning...

Atlas General Insurance Services Launches Workers’ Compensation Program for the Cannabis Industry

Aug 30 2018 // San Diego, CA, August 30, 2018– Leading national program administrator, Atlas General Insurance Services, LLC, announced today its new workers’ compensation program for the cannabis industry in California.This...

California Legislature Passes Bill Aimed Collecting Data and Helping Wildfire Victims

Aug 29 2018 // The California Legislature has passed Senate Bill 824, a bill aimed at provided information to the California Department of Insurance related to fire risk information on the residential property policies issued by...