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On February 9, 2009, the Connecticut Legislature held a public hearing regarding on House Bill 6349, An Act Concerning Sales Tax on Services (the “Bill”).  The Bill would eliminate the current exemption from the sales tax for professional, insurance, and personal services transactions found in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-412(11) and would specifically add professional, insurance, occupational, and personal service transactions to those services that are subject to the state’s sales and use tax under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-407(a)(37). 

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Read More Connecticut Legislatures Proposes Sale Tax on Insurance Service Transactions

The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that an umbrella policy issued by an excess/surplus lines insurer was not subject to the state’s automatic renewal statute.  New Jersey has a statute which provides that no policy shall be “nonrenewed” on its expiration date unless a valid written notice of nonrenewal has been sent to the insured.  

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Read More NJ Supreme Court Finds Umbrella Policy Issued by Excess/Surplus Lines Carrier Not Subject to Automatic Renewal Statute

On January 29, 2009, the New York Insurance Department (“NYID”) released a draft regulation on producer compensation transparency (the “Draft Regulation”), which aims to protect public interests by setting forth minimum disclosure requirements regarding the role of insurance producers and the “actual or potential conflicts of interest created by compensation paid to insurance producers.” …
Read More New York Releases Draft Regulation on Producer Compensation Transparency

As part of the structural changes ushered in by the new Bolivian constitution (for further discussion, see here), the central government will absorb eight of the country’s ten existing superintendencies, leaving only the superintendencies of banking and hydrocarbons as “independent.”  In addition, the Superintendencia de Bancos (Superintendency of Banks), which currently regulates insurance in Bolivia, will reportedly be renamed the Autoridad de Supervision de Entidades Financieras (Financial Entity Supervisory Authority). 

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Read More Bolivia: Insurance Regulatory Structure to Change as Part of Constitutional Reforms

The Connecticut legislature has proposed a new bill, SB-763, An Act Concerning the Connecticut Unfair Insurance Practices Act, which could potentially enable Connecticut consumers to sue insurers for unfair claim practices.  Click here for a copy of the proposed bill. 

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Read More Connecticut Legislature Proposes Bill to Broaden Consumers’ Rights by Enabling Consumers to Sue Insurers for Unfair Claim Practices

This updates our January, 15, 2009 posting.  On February 4, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R. 2) (the “Act”).  The Act extends the State Children’s Heath Insurance Program (“SCHIP”) through the 2013 fiscal year and expands SCHIP to cover an estimated 4 million additional children. …
Read More UPDATE: SCHIP Extension Signed Into Law

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty (McCarty) announced on Thursday January 29, 2009 that he has issued a subpoena seeking detailed information from State Farm Florida Insurance Company (State Farm Florida) regarding the company’s Florida property insurance policyholders.  McCarty’s subpoena follows in the wake of State Farm Florida’s January 27, 2009 announcement that it is pulling out the Florida property insurance market (as reported here). 

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Read More Florida Insurance Commissioner Subpoenas State Farm Florida Policyholder Information

At a hearing held by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (“NCOIL”) on Saturday, January 24, 2009, a panel of state legislators heard testimony from a number of experts regarding the advantages and disadvantages of regulating the credit default swap (“CDS”) market on a state, rather than federal, basis. 

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Read More NCOIL Debates Credit Default Swaps Regulation

On January 22, 2009, the New York Insurance Department (the “NYID”) approved two transactions involving CIFG Holding, Ltd. (“CIFG”), a financially-impaired bond insurer.  The transactions involved a commutation of approximately $12 billion in troubled credit default swaps and reinsurance of $13 billion of municipal bonds, and are expected to help the company avoid rehabilitation.  Last year, the NYID agreed to forbear placing CIFG in rehabilitation in order to allow these transactions to develop. 

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Read More New York Insurance Department Approves CIFG Transactions