Latest Legislation Headlines

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

Rhode Island Beacon Mutual’s looks to write next chapter

Feb 5 2006 // Beacon Mutual remains a non-profit. Beacon remains Rhode Island based. Beacon remains focused exclusively on workers’ compensation.Nearly 15 years ago, Rhode Island employers faced an uncertain future: state law...

News Currents

Feb 5 2006 // Bill Bailey, director of the Hurricane Insurance Information CenterWindstorm Conference speaker doesn’t think Mississippi wind vs. flood suits will succeed After 2004, 2005 hurricane season, record attendance...

News Currents

Feb 5 2006 // Insurers seek bond measures for Texas catastrophe fundTaking a cue from the Scout motto “Be Prepared,” a group of insurers is recommending legislation that would allow for generating funds to help pay for the...

News Currents

Feb 5 2006 // Oklahoma’s legislative session shifts into gearLawsuit reform, uninsured drivers are among issues to be debated. The bill-filing deadline for the Oklahoma Legislature passed Jan.19, 2006, and the session opens Feb....

News Currents

Feb 5 2006 // Bill Bailey, director of the Hurricane Insurance Information CenterWindstorm Conference speaker doesn’t think Mississippi wind vs. flood suits will succeed The controversy over litigation about wind vs. flood damage...

Proposed Calif. reinsurance regulations could hurt business

Feb 5 2006 // News CurrentsThe California Department of Insurance has proposed new reinsurance oversight regulations, which several insurance industry associations said are “unnecessary, burdensome and anti-market...

E&S Market

Feb 5 2006 // The surplus lines market remains alive, healthy and stable. Few argue with the success of this niche-based market, which has risen from 4 percent in 1984 to almost 15 percent of the insurance market in 2005.The National...

Editor’s Note: Pushing paper

Feb 5 2006 // There appears to be a lot of action on state legislative hills these days. Politicians have been meeting in most Western states to consider a wide variety of insurance proposals to regulate the industry. And hundreds of...

S.C. Senator Seeks Oversight Study of Insurance Department

Feb 3 2006 // A Hartsville, S.C. senator called for hearings Thursday to study whether the state Insurance Department is operating efficiently.Democratic Sen. Gerald Malloy wants the hearings held before action is taken to overhaul the...

New Mexico Considering Commercial Lines File and Use System

Feb 2 2006 // The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) and the insurance industry are working with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to finalize and implement proposed rate regulations that would convert...

La. Lawmakers to Debate Levees, Housing in Special Session

Feb 2 2006 // Levee board consolidation, absentee voting changes and housing reconstruction are among the topics lawmakers can consider as they return to the Capitol Feb. 6 for a second legislative session aimed at Louisiana’s...

Tort Reform Promises to be Key Issue in Okla. in 2006

Feb 2 2006 // Dr. Elaine Davis, an obstetrician and gynecologist in the rural northwest Oklahoma community of Enid for nearly 40 years, loved practicing medicine. But at age 68, she thought it was time to ease back on her patient load...

Kansas First State to Drop Age Restrictions on Life/Annuities Sales

Feb 2 2006 // Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger has announced that Kansas is providing enhanced consumer protections by calling for an expansion of industry standards for the suitability of the sale of fixed and variable annuity...

Missouri Governor Merges Insurance into Financial Regulatory Department

Feb 2 2006 // Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, through an executive order, has created a new department to regulate finances, merging the duties previously performed by the Economic Development Department with those of the state Insurance...

Judge Gives Class Action Status to La. Oil-Spill Case

Feb 1 2006 // A federal judge has certified as a class action a lawsuit against Murphy Oil Corp. over an oil spill in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon’s decision applies to an area in St. Bernard...

NAMIC to NAIC: ‘Alternate SOX Proposal Still Too Much’

Feb 1 2006 // An alternate proposal to impose Sarbanes Oxley Act provisions on mutual insurers, “errs in applying to mutual insurers costly and burdensome internal accounting control measures not demonstrated to preclude or...

Five S.C. Legislators Receive ‘Seat Belt Champion Award’

Jan 31 2006 // Five legislators have each accepted a “Seat Belt Champion Award” from the Nashville-based Meharry-State Farm Alliance, that applauds their success at inserting a primary enforcement amendment into the...

Opponents Claim USG Deal Exposes Fortune 500 ‘Windfall’ from Asbestos Bill

Jan 31 2006 // A group of smaller and medium sized businesses and their insurance companies is using the recent settlement by USG over its asbestos claims to argue that a federal asbestos trust fund would provide a windfall for large...

Wheeler Joins New Jersey’s National Atlantic as Vice President

Jan 30 2006 // National Atlantic Holdings Corp., a provider of specialized property/casualty insurance products and related insurance services based in Freehold, N.J., has appointed as Vice President Douglas Wheeler, former assistant...

USG Settles Asbestos Claims for $4 Billion; Could Now Exit Bankruptcy

Jan 30 2006 // USG Corporation announced today that it has reached an agreement to resolve all present and future asbestos-related personal injury claims, enabling the company and its subsidiaries to take a significant step toward...