Latest Legislation Headlines

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

Best Report Notes Growth in Panama Insurance Market

Mar 16 2011 // A new report from A.M. Best notes that Panama’s insurance market is the largest in Central America, and is expected to continue to produce significant premium growth in the next few years.Best noted that the...

Bills Filed in Texas Would Create ‘Loser Pays’ Tort System

Mar 15 2011 // Legislation filed in Texas would create a “loser pays” legal system that Texas Gov. Rick Perry says would provide stronger protections against frivolous lawsuits.House Bill 274 and Senate Bill 13, sponsored by...

No-Fault Claims Top New York Insurance Fraud List

Mar 15 2011 // Almost nine in 10 suspected health care fraud cases in New York last year came from no-fault auto injury claims, a cottage industry so rife with abuse that the state Insurance Department wants to tighten...

Republicans Target Dodd-Frank Reforms, Rating Firms’ Liability

Mar 15 2011 // Congressional Republicans on Wednesday will stage their first outright challenge to 2010’s Dodd-Frank financial regulation reforms with a fistful of bills favoring private equity firms, derivatives end-users and...

FEMA Shifts Course on Flood Map Modeling in Illinois

Mar 14 2011 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency is offering a reprieve to property owners in southwestern Illinois and other areas guarded by aging levees that it had considered decertifying, staving off fears that some could have...

Utah Legislature Approves Legislation Restricting Accident Response Fees

Mar 11 2011 // Taking a proactive stance against “crash taxes,” Utah legislators have approving a measure to restrict emergency response organizations such as fire and police from charging fees to motorist or insurers for...

Judge Tosses $20M Suit Against Police in Pennsylvania Pursuit Death

Mar 11 2011 // A federal judge has tossed a New Jersey man’s suit against a Pennsylvania police department over the 2008 death of his wife in a head-on crash with a suspect being pursued by officers. U.S. District Judge Lawrence...

Panel Recommends New Business-Only Court in West Virginia

Mar 11 2011 // The West Virginia Supreme Court is being encouraged to create a new system to consider all business-related lawsuits.The recommendation comes from a six-member committee the court appointed last year in response to...

California to Extend Low-Cost Auto Program to Same Sex Spouses

Mar 10 2011 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has filed regulations to add the category of “spouse” to the application form for the state’s Low Cost Auto Insurance Program.“The definition of marriage...

Lawmaker Files Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Reform Bill

Mar 10 2011 // Texas State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, has introduced House Bill 2818, a comprehensive reform effort intended to address many of the problems confronting the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency (TWIA).In announcing the...

Georgia Court Rules Commercial Liability Policy Covers Faulty Work

Mar 10 2011 // A general contractor can recover from its subcontractor’s insurers for the cost of repairs for damage to surrounding property resulting from the subcontractor’s faulty workmanship, the Georgia Supreme Court has...

BP Oil Spill Claims Chief Feinberg to Face Florida Lawmakers

Mar 10 2011 // The man in charge of paying BP claims for the Gulf oil spill will soon face a Florida legislative committee to answer questions about how the compensation scheme is going.Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer who is overseeing the...

Ex-AIG CEO Greenberg: Judge in New York AG Case Biased

Mar 10 2011 // Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former American International Group Inc. chief executive, said the judge overseeing a New York attorney general lawsuit against him should be removed from the case because he is...

Texas Lawmakers Want to End Driver Surcharges

Mar 9 2011 // Texas lawmakers are considering eliminating a program that requires those charged with offenses including driving while intoxicated and failure to have insurance to pay state surcharges.Nearly 60 percent of those with the...

Obama Administration Appeals Florida Judge’s Healthcare Ruling

Mar 8 2011 // The Obama administration Tuesday appealed a U.S. judge’s ruling in Florida that struck down its landmark healthcare overhaul law as unconstitutional because it required Americans to buy healthcare insurance or face a...

Florida Lawmakers Aim to Shrink State Insurer Citizens

Mar 8 2011 // Florida lawmakers are looking to cut the state’s largest property insurer down in size.The plan is to reduce the number of properties insured by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. by allowing it to raise its rates by...

How California Bill Implements Federal NRRA Surplus Lines Reform

Mar 8 2011 // The Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA), Subtitle B, Part I, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, reaches out and touches California on July 21, 2011. In anticipation of its effective date,...

Reducing Car Crashes One Reason to Thin Deer Herd in Indiana

Mar 8 2011 // One in 140 drivers in Indiana is likely to a hit a deer this year.That’s the statistic the State Farm insurance agency formulated last year when it studied the number of deer-vehicle collisions across the country....

Republican Flood Insurance Bill Gets Positive Initial Reception

Mar 8 2011 // A Republican draft of legislation to reform the federal flood insurance program would renew the program for five years, phase out most rate subsidies, tie coverage limits to the rate of inflation, vary the deductible by...

Pennsylvania Ponders Election for Insurance Commissioner

Mar 8 2011 // A bill that would make the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner an elected position has been introduced in the state’s House of Representatives.Legislation sponsored by Rep Neal Goodman, a Democrat from Mahanoy City,...