Latest Legislation Headlines

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

Under New Law, $700M in Louisiana Roadwork to Be Paid by BP Money

Jul 1 2019 // Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed one of the last outstanding bills from the legislative session, steering $700 million in oil spill recovery money to road, bridge and port projects.The Democratic governor touted the plans...

Proposed California Wildfire Board Could Operate Partly in Secret

Jul 1 2019 // A closely watched wildfire law proposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom would exempt a new safety board from some of the state’s government transparency laws.The Wildfire Safety Advisory Board would advise the...

PG&E in California Wants to Securitize Some Profits to Cover Wildfire Costs

Jul 1 2019 // PG&E Corp. is lobbying for legislation that would allow the bankrupt California utility giant to securitize some of its profits to pay for past wildfire liabilities, people familiar with the matter said.PG&E was...

Anxiety, Policy Limits Rising Ahead of California’s Sweeping Data Privacy Law

Jul 1 2019 // Robert L. Wallan’s clients are keeping him quite busy as they fret about the implementation next year of the nation’s most far-reaching data privacy law, which gives California consumers more control over their...

Oregon Lawmakers Repealed Tsunami Zone Building Law

Jul 1 2019 // The Oregon Legislature has repealed a nearly 25-year-old law prohibiting new schools, hospitals, jails, and police and fire stations from being built in the state’s tsunami inundation zone. Coastal legislators, who...

Declarations

Jul 1 2019 // “The lack of effective safety management at this well resulted in a needless catastrophe.”— Kristen Kulinowski, interim executive of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, comments after the release of a report...

Wisconsin Court: Extra Insurance Not Needed for Enbridge Pipeline in Dane County

Jun 28 2019 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that Canada-based Enbridge Energy doesn’t need to carry additional insurance for a pipeline project in Dane County, despite the local government’s insistence that it do so...

New Texas Law Addresses Surprise Medical Bills Received by Injured Workers

Jun 28 2019 // Texas lawmakers in the recent legislative session passed a bill addressing surprise medical bills injured employees have received after being treated at federal military facilities.Senate Bill 935 requires workers’...

Poll: Majority of Americans Say Global Warming is Affecting U.S. Weather

Jun 27 2019 // The majority of Americans say global warming is important to them, and that it’s affecting the weather in the U.S.A national survey by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University...

With Governor’s Signature, Illinois Is 11th State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana

Jun 27 2019 // Illinois’ new governor delivered on a top campaign promise by signing legislation making the state the 11th to approve marijuana for recreational use in a program offering legal remedies and economic benefits to...

Supreme Court Scales Back Doctrine Giving Deference to Regulatory Agencies

Jun 27 2019 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday constrained the power of federal agencies, scaling back a legal doctrine that calls for judges to give agencies deference to interpret their own rules but declining to eliminate it as...

What Passed, What Didn’t: New Florida Laws Taking Effect July 1

Jun 27 2019 // The Florida Legislature looked at and passed many pieces of legislation in the 2019 session that will impact the insurance industry. The following are summaries of what passed — and what didn’t. HB 7065 – AOB...

California Workers’ Comp Bureau Submits 2020 Regulatory Filing

Jun 26 2019 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California on Wednesday submitted a Jan. 1, 2020, regulatory filing to the California Insurance Commissioner. The filing contains the following proposals:...

Judge Open to ‘Novel’ Idea of Local Government Class for Opioid Settlement Talks

Jun 26 2019 // A judge backed a push by U.S. cities and counties suing opioid makers such as Purdue Pharma LP and Johnson & Johnson to negotiate a settlement as a group but put off until August a final decision on the request.U.S....

Ex-AIG Employees, Seeking Back-Bonuses of $100M, Win British Court Ruling

Jun 26 2019 // A group of former traders and managers at American International Group Inc. won a London judge’s backing in their battle to obtain $100 million dating back to the financial crisis, after he said that the insurance...

Kentucky Looks to Encourage Insurtech Investments Through Regulatory ‘Sandbox’

Jun 26 2019 // The Kentucky Legislature has passed the first state law in the U.S. providing comprehensive framework for an insurance regulatory “sandbox” for insurance technology products. The new regulatory sandbox, which...

Oregon Lawmakers Repealed Tsunami Zone Building Law

Jun 25 2019 // The Oregon Legislature has repealed a nearly 25-year-old law prohibiting new schools, hospitals, jails, and police and fire stations from being built in the state’s tsunami inundation zone. The Statesman Journal...

Reuters Report: How Judges’ Secrecy Has Added to Toll of Opioids and Other Products

Jun 25 2019 // WELCH, West Virginia —The opioid epidemic that has so far killed half a million Americans is routinely blamed on greedy drug makers, feckless doctors and lax regulators. But there’s another group that has...

Oklahoma Judge Approves Revised $85M Opioid Settlement With Teva

Jun 25 2019 // An Oklahoma judge has approved a revised $85 million settlement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. resolving claims by the state’s attorney general that the drugmaker helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic.The...

Viewpoint: Why Medical Marijuana Laws Are Not a Gateway to Adult Use Legislation

Jun 24 2019 // The 2018-2019 legislative sessions of Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have all but ended without the passage of adult use cannabis legislation. This was especially surprising in New York and New Jersey,...