Latest Legislation Headlines

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

Agents Fear N.Y. Coast Insurance Market Worse; Pols Weigh Options

Oct 11 2007 // New York lawmakers are considering taking action to improve coastal insurance availability while insurance agents are telling them they fear market restrictions are worsening.Insurance companies, meanwhile, claim the...

Fla. Gov. Crist Signs Bill to Bring Back No-Fault Auto Insurance

Oct 11 2007 // Governor Charlie Crist signed legislation that will re-enact Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law and ensure that drivers have $10,000 worth of health care benefits through personal injury protection or PIP coverage...

Calif. Governor Signs Flood Legislation, Rejects Bill on Child Booster Seats

Oct 11 2007 // California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation designed to strengthen flood protections in California and approved a bill that would ban smoking in vehicles carrying children. Meanwhile, he rejected a measure...

W. Va. Lawmakers Ponder Power Shift in Workers’ Compensation

Oct 10 2007 // West Virginia legislators learned Sunday that they have no one to blame but themselves for the loss of power over the rules that govern workers’ compensation claims and benefits.Lawmakers first ceded the rule-making...

N.Y. Lawmaker Says Safety Device is Harming Firefighters

Oct 10 2007 // A New York lawmaker is urging rigorous federal testing of a safety device linked to firefighter deaths and injuries.Sen. Charles Schumer said that the device, called a Personal Alert Safety System, or PASS, was used by a...

Calif. Earthquake Bill Receives Criticism, Could Raise Rates

Oct 10 2007 // Critics of a bill recently signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger say more than 760,000 California homeowners who buy earthquake insurance through a state-run authority could see their premiums rise .But the measure’s...

Mass. Bans Credit Scores in Both Rating, Underwriting in New Auto Plan

Oct 9 2007 // Auto insurers in Massachusetts will not be able to use credit scores to price or underwrite risks when the state enters its managed competition market next April.Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes sided with consumer...

Corporations Await Supreme Court Ruling on Reach of Securities Lawsuits

Oct 9 2007 // The hopes of Enron investors are riding on a case being argued before the Supreme Court today that may be the last chance at compensation for their losses when the scandal-ridden energy company collapsed.Much of corporate...

Texas Administrative Judges Reject State Farm’s Proposed Hike

Oct 9 2007 // Two administrative law judges in Texas rejected State Farm’s plan to increase homeowner insurance rates, calling the hike too excessive in a proposed decision issued Oct. 5.State Farm Lloyds Inc. had appealed to the...

Washington insurers, trail lawyers at odds over treble damages

Oct 8 2007 // Study says Referendum 67 could cost $650 million With millions in campaign contributions and plenty of name-calling, trial lawyers and insurance companies in Washington are doing their best to spice up this fall’s...

Ky. Gov. Fletcher willing to compromise on medical tort reform

Oct 8 2007 // In a blunt assessment, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher told fellow doctors recently that chances of limiting pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice cases are bleak because of resistance from some state lawmakers....

Wind, water and legislative storm

Oct 8 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, H.R. 3121, by a vote of 263-146 on Sept. 27, heating up a topic already on fire. While supporting efforts to modernize and...

Proponents push plans for natural catastrophe insurance solutions

Oct 8 2007 // The need for solutions to address insurance costs and availability in natural catastrophe-vulnerable U.S. coastal regions — including a federal safety net — was the general theme at a public hearing in Mobile,...

Wind, water and legislative storm

Oct 8 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act, H.R. 3121, by a vote of 263-146 on Sept. 27, heating up a topic already on fire. While supporting efforts to modernize and...

Maine laws on bike helmets, seat belts, teens’ cell phone use

Oct 8 2007 // Like other driving instructors across Maine, Dwight Hawkins has a new lesson to add to his course this fall: If you’re under 18 and behind the wheel, lose the cell phone.As of Sept. 20, a new Maine law will prohibit...

Fired-up over safer cigarettes

Oct 8 2007 // Now 21 states require cigarettes to be self-extinguishingCigarettes sold in 21 states will be self-extinguishing after a strikingly high 15 states passed new laws this year to combat smoking-related blazes, the No. 1 cause...

Mass. consumer groups say auto deregulation plan needs work

Oct 8 2007 // A Massachusetts consumer group and Attorney General Martha Coakley urged Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes to incorporate more consumer protections and ban the use of credit scores in her proposed auto insurance...

Maine cop hit by stolen police car covered

Oct 8 2007 // A sheriff’s deputy who was run over by his own police vehicle after it was stolen by a Jefferson man on Christmas five years ago is entitled to compensation from his personal car insurance company, Maine’s...

Supreme Court to hear case pitting federal v. state product liability laws

Oct 8 2007 // The Supreme Court said late last month that it will decide a case that centers on whether federal regulation of pharmaceuticals preempts state law.The case involves a product liability lawsuit against Pfizer’s...

House-passed flood insurance bill provides optional windstorm coverage

Oct 8 2007 // The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a measure updating the nation’s flood insurance program that will give homeowners the option of purchasing windstorm coverage as part of their flood policy.The legislation...