Latest Legislation Headlines
All the headlines from our Legislation Topic Page, ordered by recency.
U.S. Eases Offshore Drilling Rules Adopted After Gulf Oil Spill
May 3 2019 // The Trump administration unveiled on Thursday its final plan to roll back offshore drilling safety measures put in place by the Obama administration after the fatal 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the worst in U.S....
West Virginia Hospitals Seek Damages from Opioid Companies in New Lawsuit
May 3 2019 // Hospitals in West Virginia have banded together to sue some of the country’s largest opioid companies, saying they flooded Appalachia with powerful painkillers and forced medical centers to deal with the financial...
Michigan Governor Orders Study of Insurers’ Use of Non-Driving Rating Factors
May 2 2019 // Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered a review of how Michigan’s auto insurers use non-driving factors such as education and credit scores to set premiums that rank among the nation’s highest. The Democrat’s...
Texas Senate Panel Weighs Input on Stronger Storage Tank Regulations
May 2 2019 // Weeks after a massive fire at a Houston-area petrochemical storage facility garnered national attention, a panel of state lawmakers heard dueling testimony Monday night on a bill that would strengthen state oversight of...
South Carolina Lawmakers Weigh Rideshare Safety Measures
May 2 2019 // South Carolina lawmakers are considering another proposal to improve ridesharing safety. A bill that would create a new misdemeanor crime of impersonating a rideshare driver was approved Tuesday by a House subcommittee....
Missouri Bill Shielding Businesses from Fines in Lawsuits Advances
May 1 2019 // Missouri lawmakers have advanced a bill to make it harder for courts to fine defendants as punishment for hurting people. The pending measure would raise the standard for what are called punitive damages, which courts use...
PG&E Still Has No Estimate on Compensating California Wildfire Victims
May 1 2019 // Pacific Gas & Electric Corp.’s top financial executives said during a bankruptcy meeting Monday they still haven’t determined when the utility can start compensating victims of recent wildfires started by...
A Quick First Look at Florida’s New AOB Bill
May 1 2019 // I have a new hobby. It compliments one of my other hobbies, reading insurance policies. What is it? I’ve started reading legislation. What a thrill to print (yes, print) 16 pages of legislation. The numbered lines,...
Losses from Cryptocurrency Thefts, Fraud Surged to $1.2 Billion in Q1: Report
May 1 2019 // Losses from the theft of cryptocurrencies from exchanges and fraud-related activities surged in the first quarter of the year to $1.2 billion, or 70 percent of the level for all of 2018, cyber-security firm CipherTrace...
Internet Privacy Bill Proving Struggle for Congress
May 1 2019 // Lawmakers drafting a bill to create rules governing online privacy hope to have a discussion draft complete by late May with a Senate committee vote during the summer, but disputes are likely to push that timetable back,...
Florida Lawmakers Pass Text While Driving Ban, Hands-Free Requirement
May 1 2019 // The Florida House on Monday passed a compromise bill that would make texting while driving a primary offense, as well as create a hands-free area within school zones and construction zones where workers are present. The...
Kansas Took Control of 22 Struggling Nursing Homes Last Year
Apr 30 2019 // Kansas lawmakers have tightened the financial requirements for a license to operate nursing homes after state regulators were forced to take over 22 struggling facilities last year. Officials with the Kansas Department for...
Oh Rats! Pests a Problem in Building That Houses Texas Insurance Department
Apr 30 2019 // On Jan. 16, an employee at the Texas Department of Insurance noticed an unwelcome pest in her fifth-floor office in one of the towers of downtown Austin’s William P. Hobby Jr. State Office Building. Her maintenance...
Autonomous Vehicle Regulation Bill Passed by Oklahoma Legislature
Apr 29 2019 // Oklahoma would establish rules regulating how to safely operate driverless vehicles navigating state highways under a bill passed by Legislature that has been sent to the governor’s office. Autonomous vehicles are...
Florida Officials Call on U.S. Lawmakers to Pass Hurricane Michael Aid Package
Apr 29 2019 // A bipartisan group of Florida Cabinet members and state lawmakers is demanding that U.S. lawmakers pass a disaster-relief package for Hurricane Michael victims. Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Attorney General...
Florida Supreme Court Rules Against Parkland Sheriff
Apr 26 2019 // The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a sheriff who fought his removal from office after the governor claimed he failed to prevent last year’s Parkland school shooting. Florida’s highest court...
New AAIS Florida Homeowners By-Peril Program Approved by State Regulator
Apr 26 2019 // AAIS (the American Association of Insurance Services) has received approval for its new Florida Homeowners By-Peril Insurance Program from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). The AAIS Florida Homeowners...
California Lawmakers Advance Resilient Homes Initiative
Apr 25 2019 // A bill to enable the California Earthquake Authority to expand mitigation programs cleared its first hurdle this week when it passed the Senate Insurance Committee. The Resilient Homes Initiative, Senate Bill 254, was...
Minnesota AG: For-Profit Health Insurers Could Raid State’s Reserves
Apr 25 2019 // Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has called on lawmakers to reverse a consequence of 2017 law that repealed the state’s ban on for-profit health maintenance organizations, saying for-profit companies could...
Arizona Becomes 48th State with Cellphone-Driving Law
Apr 25 2019 // Arizona ended a decade of resistance to restrictions on using a cellphone while driving when Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law this week outlawing holding a phone behind the wheel. It is now the 48th state to ban texting and...
