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On December 18, 2015, Congress enacted the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, making, among other items, several significant changes to the provisions of Internal Revenue Code Section 831(b), which provides generally favorable tax treatment for electing small insurance companies. Certain of these changes…
Read More Congress Expands and Tightens Section 831(b) Small Insurance Company Election

Kevin M. McCarty has announced that he is resigning as the Florida Insurance Commissioner as of May 2, 2016. Commissioner McCarty is the only appointed Commissioner since the creation of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in 2003.

Link: http://www.floir.com/PressReleases/viewmediarelease.aspx?id=2141Read More Florida Insurance Commissioner Resigns

As previously reported here, the NAIC Cybersecurity Task Force proposed a “Cybersecurity Bill of Rights” (the “BOR”), which purported to state consumers’ rights related to information security. In the face of industry criticism of the draft BOR, including comment letters by the ACLI, NAMIC, the PIA, the Big I…

Read More NAIC Cyber Security Bill of Rights becomes “Roadmap”

Seven members of the Senate Banking Committee sent a letter to President Obama on December 15th requesting an update on when the thirteen nominations for the Board of Directors of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB) will be announced. The bipartisan legislation to establish NARAB, which streamlines…
Read More Senators ask President to Appoint NARAB Board Members

Andy Tobin was named the interim superintendent of the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions by Governor Doug Ducey. He replaces Superintendent Lauren Kingry, following his resignation. Mr. Tobin is also the Director of the Arizona Insurance Department, a position he will continue to serve in. Mr. Tobin previously served in…

Read More Arizona Governor Names Interim Superintendent of Financial Institutions

On December 9, in Dorrance v. The United States, the Ninth Circuit overturned a favorable district court decision for taxpayers in demutualizations. The Ninth Circuit ruled that a taxpayer owning insurance policies in a mutual insurance company had a zero tax basis in the attendant membership rights which accompanied…

Read More Ninth Circuit Overturns Taxpayer-Friendly Decision in Demutualizations

A Wisconsin appellate court recently addressed the applicability of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) exclusion to claims of conversion and which policies are triggered in a TCPA class action. First, the court held the TCPA exclusion barred coverage and that the insurer had no duty to defend. The court…
Read More Wisconsin Appellate Court: A Single Policy is Triggered and its TCPA Exclusion Applies, Per the Allegations of the Class-Action Complaint

On December 4, 2015, President Obama signed the Highway Bill, dubbed Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (“FAST Act”), into law. Buried in the 490 page transportation law is a significant amendment to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s (“GLBA”) annual consumer privacy notice requirement. Specifically, section 75001 of the FAST Act, entitled “Eliminate…

Read More GLBA Annual Privacy Notice Eliminated under Certain Circumstances: Buried in a Highway Bill!

On December 4, 2015, the Connecticut Insurance Department (the “CID”) issued Bulletin PC-81 banning the practice of price optimization, a pricing method whereby insurers use factors not specifically related to an insured’s expected losses and expenses in pricing coverage. Bulletin PC-81, which was issued to all insurers licensed to write…

Read More Connecticut Bans Price Optimization

During the last few years, many states have undertaken aggressive efforts to collect sales tax on amounts paid for service contracts a/k/a extended warranties, which in most states are deemed not to be insurance products. A recent example of this effort is the South Carolina Administrative Law Court’s decision in…
Read More SC Court Says Sales Tax Inapplicable to Cellphone Insurance Premiums