Latest Legislation Headlines

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

S. D. Supreme Court Ruling Overturns Labor Department’s Decision

Sep 10 2007 // A Rapid City, S.D. man who suffered three back injuries while working for the Rapid City School District is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits as a totally and permanently disabled worker, the South Dakota...

S&P Publishes Reinsurance Reports

Sep 10 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Rating Services has issued a series of reports on the global reinsurance industry, timed to appear as the annual Reinsurance Rendezvous opens its doors in Monte Carlo. The meeting, which...

Demotech Summit: Fla.’s Private Sector Strives to be Heard Amid Political Rate Storm

Sep 10 2007 // Florida’s property insurance industry is in the middle of the hurricane season — the political hurricane season.The state’s politicians promised voters their insurance premiums would go down after the state...

Texas Workers’ Comp Conference to Focus on Continuing Reform

Sep 7 2007 // The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) will host its 2007 Workers’ Compensation Conference on Sept. 19, at the Omni Austin Hotel at Southpark in Austin, Texas.Joe Anderson, a veteran workers’ compensation...

Federal Judge Allows Class Action Against Disability Insurer Unum

Sep 6 2007 // A federal judge in Chattanooga, Tenn. has granted class-action status to a lawsuit that contends Unum Group, the nation’s largest disability insurer, schemed to deny or terminate claims of thousands of disabled...

Maryland Officials to Explain Good Faith P/C Damage Filings

Sep 6 2007 // The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) will conduct a workshop to explain how it will implement newly enacted legislation that authorizes the award of enhanced damages against property and casualty insurance companies...

Mich. Senate Approves Changes Targeting School Health Costs

Sep 6 2007 // The Michigan GOP-led Senate narrowly approved bills Tuesday aimed at lowering the health insurance costs of K-12 schools and other public employers, a key change Republicans want in exchange for backing a tax...

Industry Skeptical, While Treasury Opposes, Natural Disaster Pool

Sep 6 2007 // Federal legislation that encourages states to pool their catastrophe pool risks and then transfer them to the private market as been greeted with a lukewarm insurance industry reaction at best and outright opposition from...

Judge Throws Out All Federal Antitrust Charges Against Insurers, Brokers

Sep 6 2007 // Finding the charges lack any factual support, a federal judge has dismissed a big antitrust conspiracy case that was lodged against large commercial insurance brokers and insurers back in 2004 when bid rigging and account...

Costs of Wildfires go to Montana Lawmakers

Sep 5 2007 // The speaker of the Montana House says he has no quarrel with Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s request for $55 million to pay for fighting wildfires as lawmakers convene in a special legislative session this week.But Speaker...

La. Insurance Market Outlook Brighter Some Predict

Sep 5 2007 // Two years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the insurance market in Louisiana may have hit bottom and could be ready for a rebound as levees are strengthened and the state undertakes regulatory changes, the state’s...

Nine-term Ind. State Lawmaker Lageschulte Dies in Waverly

Sep 5 2007 // A nine-term state lawmaker and former insurance adjuster and farmer who was instrumental in getting the state’s beverage container deposit and open school enrollment bills passed in the Legislature has died.Raymond...

New Law Allows Texas Drivers Flexibility on Paying Penalty Surcharges

Sep 4 2007 // A new state law enables the Texas Department of Public Safety to offer more flexibility for the nearly 775,000 drivers who haven’t paid state surcharges for driving violations.The law, which took effect Saturday, is...

Ala. Coast Condo Industry Pushes for Action on Rising Insurance Rates

Sep 4 2007 // As Labor Day tourists take an end-of-summer beach trip, owners of thousands of condominiums that line the Alabama Gulf Coast say they’re getting burned by soaring insurance premiums.Insurance legislation aimed at...

Calif. Bill to Lower Industry Support for Earthquake Coverage

Sep 4 2007 // California homeowners who buy earthquake insurance through the state-run California Earthquake Authority (CEA) could see their premiums rise under a bill that passed an Assembly committee over opposition from the state...

An “unholy alliance”

Sep 3 2007 // As professional insurance agents, we might in a quirky way consider ourselves flattered that there are never-ending attempts to take our business away from us.If we weren’t so successful at what we do, we would be...

Calif. approves Geico rate reduction

Sep 3 2007 // The California Department of Insurance has announced it has approved GEICO’s 10.8 percent rate reduction in personal auto insurance policies. The reduction should translate into $65.8 million in overall savings for...

Staying afloat in complex construction insurance waters

Sep 3 2007 // With the tidal wave of legal cases involving construction defects bogging down county, state and federal courts, it has become imperative that insurers “cover their behinds” from every imaginable angle —...

Calif. approves Geico rate reduction

Sep 3 2007 // The California Department of Insurance has announced it has approved GEICO’s 10.8 percent rate reduction in personal auto insurance policies. The reduction should translate into $65.8 million in overall savings for...

Calif. court rules workers’ comp costs can be tallied in incentive plans

Sep 3 2007 // The California Supreme Court has ruled that incentive compensation plans, calculated on profits, can subtract out costs for workers’ compensation costs from profits, even if it discourages employees from reporting...