NEVADA LEGISLATURE WRAPS UP SESSION:

The Nevada Legislature wrapped up its session recently, passing a number of insurance-related bills. Bills signed into law include: AB 137, signed into law on June 6, requires an insurance company to give a claimant a written notice when the insurer makes a claim payment of $500 or more to a person other then the claimant; AB 468, signed into law on May 18, specifies the cases that must be submitted to nonbinding arbitration in civil action lawsuits; and SB 175, signed into law on June 1, limits the fees that a towing yard may charge when a vehicle is placed into storage after an accident, and also authorizes insurers to receive accident reports from law enforcement agencies. The following bills are awaiting the governor’s signature: AB 254, which would increase the fines that may be imposed on a workers’ compensation insurer for delaying the payment of benefits to claimants and for other specified acts; AB 315, which would require an auto manufacturer to disclose the fact that the vehicle is equipped with an event recording device and restrict the dissemination of the data recorded by the event recording device; AB 338, the Division of Insurance’s omnibus bill that addresses a number of issues including captive insurers, medical discount plans, credit insurance, risk retention group fees and producer compensation; and AB 364, which would require a workers’ comp insurer that is paying compensation to an injured employee for a permanent total disability to provide the employee with an annual accounting of payments and would also require an insurer to reopen a workers’ comp claim to consider the payment for a permanent partial disability if specified conditions exist. In most cases, bills signed by the governor go into effect Oct. 1, 2005.

Topics Carriers Workers' Compensation