Latest Legislation Headlines

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

R.I. Gov. Urges Legislature to Help Undocumented Immigrants Get Licenses

Jan 7 2016 // Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo has run out of time to carry out an ambitious promise she made on the campaign trail to grant driver’s licenses to immigrants in the country illegally.Raimondo signed a poster-sized...

Drone Registrations Top 180,000 in First 2 Weeks

Jan 7 2016 // One of the most important players in the booming drone industry isn’t a hardware manufacturer; it’s the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. So attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday flocked...

Judge Throws Out ‘Everybody Does It’ Defense in Shareholder Class Action

Jan 7 2016 // Corporate legal battles are often decided on nuanced readings of dense statutes, but one recent ruling that could expose scores of U.S. companies to shareholder lawsuits turned partly on a much simpler defense: everybody...

Its Own Scientists Question EPA Claim Fracking Is Safe for Drinking Water

Jan 7 2016 // A landmark study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that concluded fracking causes no widespread harm to drinking water is coming under fire — this time, from the agency’s own science advisers.The...

Obama to Veto Affordable Care Act Repeal Passed by Congress

Jan 7 2016 // The House voted Wednesday to repeal most of Obamacare, sending legislation to President Barack Obama for the first time that would dismantle his biggest domestic policy achievement.The 240-181 House vote, following Senate...

Gas Leak Forcing Southern California Residents to Flee Neighborhood

Jan 6 2016 // The sulfurous scent of a natural-gas leak hangs in the air as mail carriers wearing gas masks make rounds to mostly deserted homes in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch.Life in the community of 30,000 people...

Florida Insurance Commissioner McCarty to Resign After 12 Years in Job

Jan 5 2016 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin M. McCarty announced today that he is resigning effective May 2, 2016 after 12 years in the post to pursue other job opportunities, according to the Florida Office of Insurance...

Massachusetts Lawmakers Consider Changes to Bicycle Laws

Jan 5 2016 // Bicyclists can get little respect on the road — from drivers, pedestrians, even fellow cyclists.Sometimes the angry stares are deserved, but more often the friction stems from the fact that bicycles, cars, buses,...

Florida Approves Removal of 71,000 Policies from Citizens for March Takeouts

Jan 5 2016 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved the removal of up to 70,000 personal residential policies and 1,500 commercial residential polices from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens). The...

6 Forecasts for P/C Insurance in 2016

Jan 4 2016 // Some, but not all, experts see an improving U.S. economy in 2016 helping to boost the property/casualty (P/C) insurance sector. Some of these prognosticators are more optimistic than others. But most also anticipate...

Maine Legislature Pushed to Address Volunteer Firefighter Shortage

Jan 4 2016 // Some Maine fire officials hope lawmakers will consider measures aimed to attract more volunteers and allow departments to remain financially afloat.Small towns throughout Maine face a shortage of trained firefighters and...

Insurance Journal’s Most Popular East Region Stories of 2015

Dec 31 2015 // As the year 2015 comes to a close, here’s a look at InsuranceJournal.com’s most popular East region news stories of the year. Among the 1,100 stories posted in the East region this year, the following were 50...

Utah’s Texting While Driving Stops Rise Again in 2015

Dec 31 2015 // More people were pulled over for texting, emailing or checking Facebook on their cellphones behind the wheel on Utah’s highways in a six-month snapshot of 2015, marking a second year of growth in stops since the law...

China Anti-Terrorism Law Raises Implementation Concerns: European Chamber

Dec 31 2015 // The vague wording of China’s new counter-terrorism law raises concerns about how telecommunications carriers and network service providers will be expected to implement the regulations in practice, the European...

Judge OKs 2 Shareholder Class Actions Against Facebook Over IPO

Dec 30 2015 // A federal judge has certified two shareholder class actions accusing Facebook Inc. of hiding concerns about its growth forecasts prior to the social media company’s May 2012 initial public offering.U.S. District...

Florida Lawmakers to Industry: We Want YOU to Join State Flood Insurance Market

Dec 30 2015 // “We think the time is right for you all to explore the [Florida] flood insurance market.”That was the message Florida Senator Jeff Brandes gave insurance industry attendees at the first ever Florida Flood...

Judge Orders PG&E to Face Most Charges in Deadly California Pipeline Blast

Dec 30 2015 // Pacific Gas & Electric Co. must face the most serious charges related to a 2010 explosion that killed eight people in a San Francisco suburb as the utility heads to a jury trial next year over claims it ignored the...

Judge Orders Online Poker Company to Pay Kentucky $870M

Dec 30 2015 // A Kentucky state judge ordered an online poker company to pay Kentucky $870 million and sternly rebuked the company for making “a calculation that breaking the law was good for business.”Casino-style gambling...

Wall Street May Create UK-Like Registry of Misbehaving Bankers, Traders

Dec 29 2015 // Bankers’ misdeeds would be cataloged, by name, on a private registry for hiring managers under a proposal that’s gaining traction as Wall Street firms struggle to restore reputations damaged by the financial...

Cab Drivers Fight Back as Uber Looks to Expand to Upstate New York

Dec 28 2015 // New York State lawmakers returning to Albany for the usual debates over taxes and spending will also take on an issue even more basic to many New Yorkers — the options for getting home from the train station, the...