Latest Legislation Headlines

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

Insurers Named as Defendants in Challenge to Michigan Auto Insurance Law

Oct 7 2019 // Crash victims and a brain-injury rehabilitation facility challenged Michigan’s new auto insurance law on Oct. 3, contending that pending limits on reimbursement rates for nursing and other care violate their...

New York Limousine Crash Victims’ Relatives Call for Stronger Regulations

Oct 7 2019 // Relatives of some of the 20 people killed in an upstate New York stretch limousine crash urged quick action on safety legislation Thursday so other families won’t have to endure the grief they have carried for the...

22 New California Laws Take Aim at Wildfire Danger

Oct 4 2019 // California is adopting nearly two dozen laws aimed at preventing and fighting the devastating wildfires that have charred large swaths of the state in recent years and killed scores of people. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom...

Colorado Banks Quietly Serving Cannabis Industry

Oct 4 2019 // Colorado’s cannabis industry has had a chief request since marijuana was legalized: Give us access to banks. But it turns out that hundreds of the state’s pot businesses are already working with financial...

New York Court Blocks State Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes

Oct 4 2019 // A New York court on Thursday temporarily halted a state ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, giving the embattled vaping industry a breather just a day before the state’s prohibition was due to take effect. The...

Johnson & Johnson Says Oklahoma Judge Miscalculated Opioid Award

Oct 3 2019 // An Oklahoma judge made a $107 million miscalculation when he ordered consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million to help clean up the state’s opioid crisis, attorneys for the company argue in a...

High Hopes, Higher Hurdles for Pro-Cannabis SAFE Banking Act

Oct 3 2019 // Regardless of the odds facing a bill designed to enable regular banking and financial services for cannabis business, some experts are encouraged by passage through the House of something that would greatly benefit the...

Washington Joins Other States to Issue Flavored Vape Ban

Oct 3 2019 // Washington is joining several other states in banning the sale of flavored vaping products amid concern over the mysterious lung illness that has sickened hundreds of people and killed about a dozen across the...

How the Future of Insurtech Innovation Is Tied to the Traditions of Regulation

Oct 3 2019 // It’s no secret: Innovators and regulators often clash. But both are needed to help enable a dynamic, consumer-friendly property/casualty industry in the future, insurance and insurtech experts said...

Judge Rules Harvard’s ‘Fine Admissions Policy’ Passes Constitutional Test

Oct 2 2019 // Harvard University’s undergraduate admissions program does not discriminate against Asian-American applicants, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday, rejecting a lawsuit brought by opponents of affirmative action and...

New York Court Denies Industry Request to Delay E-Cigarette Ban

Sep 30 2019 // A state judge has denied the vaping industry’s request to delay a New York emergency ban on flavored e-cigarette sales. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly on Friday refused to issue a temporary...

U.K. Embraces E-cigarettes, as U.S. Scrambles to Crack Down on Vaping

Sep 30 2019 // While the U.S. scrambles to crack down on vaping, Britain has embraced electronic cigarettes as a powerful tool to help smokers kick the habit. The Royal College of Physicians explicitly tells doctors to promote...

How Early Signs of Lung Effects of Vaping Were Missed and Downplayed

Sep 30 2019 // Scientists, regulators and e-cigarette proponents missed, ignored or downplayed signs that vaping could significantly damage the lungs for nearly a decade, a review of medical literature, government documents and...

Analysts See Senate Joining House on Marijuana Banking Law

Sep 29 2019 // A stronger-than-expected 321-103 vote in the House in favor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which allows banks to service the cannabis industry, sets the stage for likely passage in the Senate, according to...

U.S. Private Flood Insurance: The Journey to Build a New Market

Sep 27 2019 // Not long ago, private flood insurance was thought to be an impossible dream in the property/casualty sector. There were numerous arguments supporting the common wisdom that a meaningful market for residential flood...

North Dakota Lawmakers Studying Pros, Cons of Recreational Pot

Sep 27 2019 // North Dakota lawmakers have begun studying the consequences of legalizing marijuana in the state, a move that comes amid a pair of proposed citizen-led initiatives that aim to make the drug legal for recreational...

House Passes SAFE Marijuana Banking Bill by Big Margin

Sep 26 2019 // The U.S. House advanced legislation designed to let banks do business with cannabis companies in states that permit marijuana sales, a step that some supporters see as helping to pave the way to nationwide...

Opioid Trial Judge, Overseeing 2,000 Lawsuits, Denies Bias, Refuses to Step Down

Sep 26 2019 // The Cleveland judge overseeing more than 2,000 federal lawsuits over alleged opioid abuses refused to disqualify himself from a bellwether trial set to start next month, rejecting a request by drug distributors and...

Lawmaker Wants Rhode Island to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes

Sep 26 2019 // A lawmaker in Rhode Island plans to introduce a bill to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Rep. Julie Casimiro says she’s planning to propose a ban after the new legislative session begins in January. She says...

Judge Approves $54M Settlement in Duke University Hiring Lawsuit

Sep 26 2019 // A federal judge is closing a lawsuit that Duke University is settling over claims that it and nearby University of North Carolina conspired to hold down salaries of thousands of medical workers by not hiring staff away...