Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Supreme Court Dismisses Long-Awaited Case on AOB Policy Language
Aug 7 2019 // The Florida Supreme Court has reversed course and decided not to hear a controversial case regarding the validity of certain language around assignment of benefit agreements, instead ruling that a law passed by the Florida...
Texas Windstorm Insurer: No Rate Hike for 2020
Aug 6 2019 // Texas’ provider of last resort for wind and hail insurance for Texas coastal properties won’t be raising its residential and commercial property rates next year. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA)...
Judges May Be Reaching Limit with Copyright Profiteering by Pornography Sellers
Aug 6 2019 // Pornography producers and sellers account for the lion’s share of copyright-infringement lawsuits in the U.S. — and judges may have seen enough. The courts are cracking down on porn vendors that file thousands...
Delaware Insurance Data Security Act Signed into Law
Aug 6 2019 // Delaware Governor John Carney signed House Bill 174, titled the Delaware Insurance Data Security Act, into law on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. This law is based on an NAIC Model Act, which establishes a comprehensive...
Medical Marijuana Heading to Dispensary Shelves in Louisiana
Aug 5 2019 // Medical marijuana is expected to start reaching select dispensaries in Louisiana on Tuesday, after the state agriculture department completed final testing and cleared therapeutic cannabis for release to...
Texas High Court Clarifies Bad Faith in Appraisal Process
Aug 2 2019 // An insurer’s payment of the appraisal value after disputing a claim does not establish that it was liable, nor does that payment prevent a policyholder from pursuing penalties under the Prompt Payment of Claims Act,...
State, Local Governments Debate How to Best Allocate Any Opioid Settlement Funds
Aug 2 2019 // The roughly 2,000 state and local governments suing the drug industry over the deadly opioid crisis have yet to see any verdicts or reach any big national settlements but are already tussling with each other over how to...
West Virginia Lawmakers Ask Attorney General for Control of $37M Opioid Settlment
Aug 2 2019 // A group of West Virginia lawmakers want control of a recent $37 million opioid settlement with the drug distributor McKesson. Members of the House of Delegates on Monday asked the attorney general to let the legislature to...
UK Regulator Asks Insurers to Weigh Possible Business Impact of Climate Change
Aug 2 2019 // The Bank of England for the first time is asking British insurers to gauge how global warming might impact the value of the stocks and bonds they hold — and its potential to upend financial markets. The central bank,...
Closely-Watched Oklahoma Public Nuisance Case Over Opioids Now in Judge’s Hands
Aug 1 2019 // Oklahoma’s attorney general on Wednesday made his final bid to force Johnson & Johnson to pay $17 billion for its part in fueling the opioid epidemic, saying the drugmaker’s “egregious”...
UK Markets Regulator Warns of Dangers of Unregulated Cryptocurrencies
Aug 1 2019 // Britain’s markets watchdog said on Wednesday that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value and offer consumers few protections, but added that such coins fall outside the scope of its powers. The...
Capital One Investors Wary of Reputational Impact of Data Breach
Jul 31 2019 // Capital One Financial Corp.’s assurances that a major data breach would have a limited impact on customers or profit failed to convince investors on Tuesday, with the bank’s shares closing down 5.9%. Capital...
Congress Looks to Jump Start Stalled Driverless Vehicle Bill
Jul 31 2019 // Two key committees in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday said they will revive efforts to pass long-stalled legislation to speed the adoption of self-driving cars. The House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Commerce...
Sexual Harassment Scandal Rocks Florida CFO’s Office; Banking Regulator Fired
Jul 31 2019 // The Florida Cabinet fired the state’s top banking regulator last week, a week after the release of a state investigator’s report asserting that the official misused his public office and subjected women to...
A Year after GDPR, How Can U.S. Insurers Prepare for Data Privacy Regs Closer to Home?
Jul 30 2019 // More than a year after the European Union implemented its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), U.S. insurers are examining what they can learn as they prepare for the implementation of similar data privacy laws in...
Florida Regulator Approves Post-AOB Reform Rates for Citizens Policyholders
Jul 30 2019 // Florida’s insurance regulator has established 2019 rates for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. after the insurer resubmitted its rate filing as part of a requirement of the new assignment of benefits law that...
Oregon Lagging on Disaster Preparedness, Scientists Warn
Jul 29 2019 // Oregon state lawmakers abandoned a multimillion-dollar project to develop early warning systems for earthquakes and wildfires, and scientists warn that the funding shake-up could endanger public safety and put Oregon...
Schools, Lawmakers, Tech Firms Trying to Curb Rising Cyberbullying
Jul 29 2019 // Rachel Whalen remembers feeling gutted in high school when a former friend would mock her online postings, threaten to unfollow or unfriend her on social media and post inside jokes about her to others online. The...
Judge Reduces $2 Billion Roundup Jury Verdict to $86 Million
Jul 29 2019 // A California judge on Thursday reduced a $2 billion jury verdict, slashing the award for a couple who blamed Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based weed killer, Roundup, for their cancer to $86.7 million. Superior Court Judge...
Union Not Siding with Rideshare Operators on California Labor Law
Jul 26 2019 // Uber and Lyft suffered a setback in their months-long fight against rules that could force them to reclassify California drivers as employees. The ridesharing companies, along with other businesses that depend on...
