Latest Legislation Headlines

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

Businesses Press Congress for Immunity When States Lift Coronavirus Lockdowns

Apr 21 2020 // Major U.S. business lobbying groups are asking Congress to pass measures that would protect companies large and small from coronavirus-related lawsuits when states start to lift pandemic restrictions and businesses begin...

States Easing Path to Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Coronavirus Workers

Apr 21 2020 // Sympathetic state lawmakers and regulators in states both red and blue promise to make COVID-19 a major cost driver for workers’ compensation insurers. The governors of Kentucky, Arkansas, North Dakota and Florida...

White House Moves to Weaken EPA Rule on Toxic PFA Compounds in Consumer Products

Apr 20 2020 // The Trump White House has intervened to weaken one of the few public health protections pursued by its own administration, a rule to limit the use of a toxic industrial compound in consumer products, according to...

South Carolina Insurance Dept. Makes Staff Changes, Names New Deputy Directors

Apr 20 2020 // The South Carolina Department of Insurance will be implementing a variety of organizational changes that will become effective May 1, 2020. These changes include: Joe Cregan has been named chief deputy of Insurance...

How To Make Your Life Easier, and Richer

Apr 20 2020 // Agency owners can make their lives easier and richer if they follow one simple rule: Run their agency as a business. This means doing what businesses do, including working on the business rather than just in it. This is...

California Supreme Court Ruling Will Enable Montrose to Tap Excess Policies

Apr 20 2020 // A decision earlier this month by the California Supreme Court gave policyholders with long-tail environmental claims a potentially big win, finding that polices within each policy period can be vertically stacked. The...

Facebook Revamps Its Libra Cryptocurrency in Response to Regulatory Backlash

Apr 17 2020 // Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency Libra will be linked to individual national currencies and overseen by global watchdogs in a scaled-back revamp it hopes will win regulatory approval. The prospect of...

Six Things to Know About the Recent Impasse Between Regulators and Insurers in the Aftermath of California’s Devastating Wildfires

Apr 17 2020 // This post is part of a series sponsored by CoreLogic. California’s 2017 and 2018 catastrophic wildfire events hit state insurers historically hard, with record-breaking losses of over $25 billion.1 2 Three years...

Chubb CEO Greenberg Warns Retroactive Measures Would ‘Bankrupt’ Insurance Industry

Apr 16 2020 // Chubb Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Evan Greenberg has a stark warning for policy makers pushing insurers to pay out some uncovered business-interruption losses. “The insurance industry is a fundamental part of the...

Judge Clears Way for Shareholder Suit Against Tesla, Musk Over Going-Private Tweet

Apr 16 2020 // A federal judge said Tesla Inc. and Chief Executive Elon Musk must face a lawsuit claiming they misled shareholders when Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take his electric car company private in a $72 billion...

Why Leaders Need to Resist Rewriting Insurance Contract Language

Apr 16 2020 // Soon after the attacks on the World Trade Center and other locations on the morning of September 11th, President Bush declared that the atrocities were “an act of war.” That statement prompted a call to me from...

Despite Insurance Industry Concerns, More States Introduce COVID-19 BI Bills

Apr 15 2020 // New Jersey was the first state to propose a bill that would mandate insurers cover COVID-19-related losses under their business interruption policies, and the insurance industry was quick to express its concern. But that...

Businesses Warn Fear of Lawsuits Could Stall Rebooting of Economy; Urge Coordination

Apr 15 2020 // Litigation surrounding coronavirus responses is already underway and businesses are warning that the fear of more lawsuits could hinder the reboot of the U.S. economy. Returning America to work will require coordination...

Cyber Criminals Increasingly Will Target Top Executives in Ransomware Attacks: Report

Apr 14 2020 // Senior executives increasingly will be targeted by cyber criminals looking for ways to steal money from large corporations, according to a report from cyber analytics provider CyberCube. Organized criminals and hackers are...

Italy’s Generali to Pay 2019 Dividend, Resisting EU Regulatory Guidance

Apr 13 2020 // Italy’s biggest insurer Generali on Friday said it would pay its 2019 dividend in two tranches, confirming a total payout of 0.96 euros per share, citing its strong capital position. The announcement flies in the...

Judge Won’t Approve California Wildfire Victims Letter Attacking PG&E

Apr 9 2020 // A federal judge has refused to put his stamp of approval on a letter to Northern California wildfire victims from attorneys who allege that Pacific Gas & Electric may be breaking its promises as it tries to preserve a...

California Supreme Court Ruling Will Enable Montrose to Tap Excess Policies

Apr 7 2020 // A decision this week by the California Supreme Court gave policyholders with long-tail environmental claims a potentially big win, finding that polices within each policy period can be vertically stacked. The decision was...

Minnesota Lawmakers to Ensure Workers’ Comp Coverage to Responders with COVID-19

Apr 7 2020 // The Minnesota Legislature is reconvening to pass a bill to ensure that first responders and health care workers who contract COVID-19 qualify for workers’ compensation without having to prove that they contracted the...

Federal Judge Permanently Bans Enforcement of Kansas ‘Ag-Gag’ Law

Apr 6 2020 // A federal judge has blocked enforcement of provisions in a Kansas law that ban the secret filming at slaughterhouses and other livestock facilities. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil issued the permanent injunction after...

Small Commercial Drones: Overcoming the Misconceptions

Apr 6 2020 // One of the most interesting and rapidly-growing technologies emerging for small business owners is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones. In 2019 alone, there were nearly 1.3 million registered...