On October 13, 2022, the Illinois Department of Insurance (the “Department”) issued Company Bulletin 2022-16 (the “Bulletin”).  The Bulletin is addressed to all domestic insurers and advises that the Department will now participate in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Climate Risk Disclosure Survey (the “Survey”).

Locke Lord’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Newsletter provides topical snapshots of recent developments in the fast-changing world of privacy, data protection, and cyber risk management. For further information on any of the subjects covered in the newsletter, please contact one of the members of our privacy and cybersecurity team.

Illinois has passed Senate Bill 2176 which is effective as of June 25,2021, repeals the state’s former non-UETA “Electronic Commerce Security Act”, and includes the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), making Illinois the 49th state to have adopted UETA and leaving New York as the only non-UETA state.

In an effort to help struggling businesses deal with the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic, ‎legislatures in Florida, Illinois, Maine and Rhode Island have recently proposed legislation to ‎require insurance carriers to cover COVID-19 related business interruption claims. Traditionally, ‎business interruption policies require that a business suffer some sort of physical loss or damage ‎before the carrier will pay-out on a business interruption claim.‎

On February 26, 2021, a bill was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly that among other ‎changes would eliminate the diligent effort requirement for commercial business sourced by a ‎surplus lines producer through a retail insurance producer and would also reduce the requirement ‎for master policies and program business.‎

The Illinois Department of Insurance has adopted a new rule, 50 Ill. Adm. Code 1305, Prior Notification of Dividends or Distributions.  Illinois Public Act 100-1118, effective November 27, 2018, added a new section to Article VIIC of the Illinois Insurance Code, Domestic Insurance Companies, namely, section 123C-26 [215 ILCS 5/123C-26] which mandates that captive insurance companies shall notify the Director when issuing dividends or distributions to policyholders [215 ILCS 5/123C-26.A] and which mandates that the Director approve that issuance and adopt rules to implement the approval process [215 ILCS 5/123C26.B].

On February 14, 2020, Illinois introduced legislation (SB3783) that would make significant ‎changes in the manner certain surplus lines placements are made in Illinois. Illinois would be the ‎latest state to amend their surplus lines laws and improve efficiency in the placement of surplus ‎lines risks.‎