Latest Texas Headlines
All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Texas Re-Certifies 10 Companies to Self-Insure for Workers’ Comp
Jan 5 2017 // The Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) re-certified 10 employers to self-insure workers’ compensation claims. Together, the companies employ about 15,000 people in...
Texas Lawmakers to Seek Transparency in Government/Private Business Deals
Jan 5 2017 // Two Texas lawmakers want to tighten public records laws to make it harder for governments and the companies they do business with to keep financial information secret. Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat, and GOP Rep....
Velocity Risk Underwriters Expands Coverage to Coastal Homeowners in Florida
Jan 4 2017 // Velocity Risk Underwriters has expanded its Florida home insurance products and is now writing coastal homeowners policies statewide. Velocity offers an A.M. Best “A” rated coastal homeowners program through...
Texas Clinic Owner Pleads Guilty to $1M Insurance Fraud
Jan 3 2017 // A Gainesville, Texas, clinic owner has pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and was ordered to repay $1 million after an investigation by the Texas Department of Insurance found that he billed for chiropractic services...
Texas Surplus Lines Office Changes Acronym to SLTX
Jan 3 2017 // The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas has changed its acronym to SLTX. The stamping office formerly branded itself with the SLSOT acronym. The office unveiled its new logo at the Texas Surplus Lines Association (TSLA)...
U.S. Refineries’ Accident Risk on Rise Due to Labor Shortage
Jan 3 2017 // After years of running flat out, U.S. Gulf Coast refiners are lining up repairs to plants in 2017 – but facing a severe labor shortage that could delay work, drive up costs and raise accident risks. Fuel producers...
Texas Feed Manufacturer Fined Nearly $92K for Health, Safety Violations
Dec 30 2016 // Thomas Moore Feed in Navasota, Texas, has been cited by federal safety officials for repeat and serious health and safety violations. Proposed penalties total $91,911. Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
Texas Sets Workers’ Comp Discount, Interest Rate for Q1 2017
Dec 30 2016 // For the first quarter of 2017, the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation has set at 4.41 percent any interest or discount provided for in the state’s workers’ comp statutes. The...
Texas Mutual: Judge Upholds State Regulation of Air Ambulances
Dec 30 2016 // A Texas district court judge in Austin has upheld the state’s right to regulate fees paid to air ambulances for transporting patients covered by workers’ compensation insurance, according to Texas Mutual...
Families Remember Deadly North Texas Tornado
Dec 29 2016 // Kenneth and Natasha Briggs and their four children had avoided the area near the Bush Turnpike and Interstate 30 in spite of, and because of, what it had done to form their family. This week, however, Natasha sat front and...
Report: Vast Majority of Surplus Lines Filings in Texas Come in on Time
Dec 29 2016 // An overwhelming majority of surplus lines policies are filed on time in Texas, according to the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas. SLTX is required by statute to file an Annual Late Filers report with the Texas...
Texas Surplus Office Projects 2016 Increase in Premium, Filings
Dec 22 2016 // Projections show that the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas is on track to surpass fourth quarter premium totals set in the past two years, according to data prepared by the office. The amount of surplus lines filings...
Texas Grocery Chain Recalls Raw Shelled Pistachios
Dec 22 2016 // The H-E-B grocery store chain has recalled some bulk and packaged raw shelled pistachios. San Antonio-based H-E-B said this week there’s a potential that the pistachios could be contaminated with salmonella. There...
South Central Regulation Report Card: Texas’ Grade Rises, Arkansas’ Drops
Dec 22 2016 // No South Central state had the best score and none had the worst in a report recently released by a conservative-leaning research organization that annually assesses the effectiveness states’ insurance regulatory...
Midwest Regulation Report Card: States’ Grades Range from A to D
Dec 22 2016 // Grades assigned to the insurance regulatory systems in the Midwest states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin range from A to D in a...
Percentage of Non-Subscribers in Texas Workers’ Comp System Falls
Dec 19 2016 // The percentage of companies that don’t participate in the Texas workers’ compensation system has fallen to the lowest level since 1993, the agency that regulates this line of insurance in the state has...
Texas Issues Mandatory Data Call to Property/Casualty Insurers
Dec 19 2016 // The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a mandatory annual data call to all insurance companies writing private passenger nonfleet automobile, homeowners multiple peril, workers’ compensation, commercial fire...
Corpus Christi Chemical Leak Reported Week Before Public Warned
Dec 19 2016 // A chemical leak from an asphalt plant that led Corpus Christi officials to warn its 300,000 residents not to drink the water last week was apparently reported a week earlier, according to an email from a state...
Battle Over Property Claims and Litigation in Texas Set to Continue in 2017
Dec 19 2016 // If a Dec. 1, 2016, hearing is any indication, Texas lawmakers will be encouraged in the coming legislative session to take up what the property/casualty insurance industry says is a problematic trend following severe...
People – South Central
Dec 19 2016 // State Auto’s Western Region added Bob McCarty as underwriting manager for the Central/South Texas area. He is based in Austin. McCarty has 30 years of insurance and management experience. He began his career in...
