I.I.I. IS KEY SOURCE IN NEW YORK TIMES AND CNBC HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS STORIES
The I.I.I.’s Loretta Worters was quoted in a NYT article, and provided insight to CNBC, in advance of their stories on the insurance coverage issues impacting those in hurricane-prone states.
NOAA ANNOUNCING ITS 2017 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON OUTLOOK
The I.I.I.’s Kristin Palmer will be attending the Thursday, May 25, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) press conference in College Park, Maryland.
CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA (CFA) RESEARCH FINDS DRIVERS PAY MORE AFTER LEAVING A NON-STANDARD AUTO INSURER
The I.I.I.’s Michael Barry spoke with E.W. Scripps TV, CBS MoneyWatch, and SNL Financial after the CFA maintained standard U.S. auto insurers should not be allowed to ask a prospective policyholder about who currently insures them.
Advanced Analytics: Getting Under Way
An insurer survey by A.M. Best shows that nearly 32 percent of the respondents identify advanced analytics as the industry’s greatest opportunity, far above the second-most named item, the increasing use of mobile apps. The third most commonly named opportunity was the application of big data to insurance problems.
The article was from Actuarial Review and quoted a data analytics manager from Willis Tower Watson who said that in order to decide whether to pursue a particular advanced analytic project, a company should consider project viability, the supporting data and the potential impact. Actuarial Review 05/01/2017
SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT
Pool Safely
This Memorial Day weekend, join the conversation on the importance of pool safety on social. Follow the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s national pool and spa campaign by following @poolsafely on Twitter and by using the hashtag #PoolSafety and #PoolSafetyPledge.
III_MarketReport podcast
The III Market Report on insurance and geopolitical risk is now available via podcast, which you can find the link to on our @III_Research account. Use the hashtag #III_MarketReport to follow the discussion, and visit soundcloud.com/iiiorg for our webinar archives.
Blog post on UK Terrorism Insurance
III’s Claire Wilkinson recently published a blog post on UK national terrorism insurance group Pool Re and its response to the recent Machester attack. You can find the post on III’s Insurance Industry Blog and by following Claire on Twitter at @IIIindustryblog. Follow Pool Re on Twitter at @PoolReInsurance, and use the hashtag #MachesterBombing to follow the conversation on social.
CAPITOL HILL
U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed (subscription required) this week on the Fiduciary Rule.
STATES
California
Insurance News Net: Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones adopted and issued a revised advisory pure premium rate lowering the benchmark to $2.02 per $100 of payroll for workers' compensation insurance, effective July 1, 2017. This is 16.5 percent less than the average pure premium rate of $2.42 California insurers filed as of January 1, 2017. The mid-year pure premium advisory rate reduction is based on insurers' cost data indicating workers' compensation insurers' medical costs were lower in 2016. Insurers' net costs in the workers' compensation system continue to decline as a result of SB 863 and other reform laws enacted by the Legislature and Governor Brown.
LA Times: California will likely roll out a limited public earthquake early warning system sometime next year, researchers building the network say. The new sensor stations are particularly important for rural Northern California, where gaps in the network have put San Francisco at risk for a slower alert if an earthquake begins on the San Andreas fault near the Oregon border and barrels down to the city. Last summer, California lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown approved $10 million for the earthquake early warning system.
Some longtime residents of Big Sur figured nature hadn’t finished with them this year. Over the weekend, they were proved right.
With a loud boom and a cloud of dust, part of a mountainside slid into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday night, swallowing roughly a third of a mile of Highway 1 and rearranging some more of Big Sur’s dramatic coastline. “No words needed but here’s a few,” began a Monday tweet from Caltrans District 5. “Millions tons of rock/dirt, about 1/3 mile of roadway covered 35-40 feet deep.” Handy said locals are guessing it will be at least a year, dashing hopes that the popular coastal highway would completely reopen this year.“The highway’s not even there under it. The whole mountain just slid,” she said.
Colorado
The Denver area hail storm which occurred earlier this month generated hundreds of auto insurance claims, the Denver Post reports. The article says State Farm alone received more than 19,000 auto claims and has set up 5 mobile drive-in claims operations to handle the volume. Colorado has the second-most hail insurance claims in the nation, trailing only Texas.
Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker declared a state of emergency after severe weather hit three counties in that state/ Widespread thunderstorms brought torrential rain, plus high winds, hail, and tornadoes that caused extensive damage and flooding. That storm hit on May 16.
Mississippi
Local governments in nine counties are eligible for federal financial assistance following the severe storms and flooding which occurred in the state on April 30.
ALABAMA (Bill)
A week after he struck down Alabama’s workers’ compensation law, Circuit Judge Pat Ballard issued a stay order to strike down the law until the Alabama Legislature can act. The judge found two provisions, the $220 a week cap in compensation and the 15 percent cap on attorneys fees, unconstitutional. And, because one or more provisions were found unconstitutional, the entire act is nullified.
GEORGIA (Bill)
The Okefenokee wildfire now 60 percent contained. The wildfire started in early April from a lightning strike and has covered more than 152,000 acres.
OKLAHOMA (Bill)
Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak is calling on the Oklahoma Legislature to pass legislation to give homeowners an insurance premium discount for building or retrofitting their home to certain tornado-resilient standards. The new law would incentivize people to voluntarily build stronger homes. HB 1720 is being considered in a conference committee and should be considered by the full House and Senate before adjournment.
A member of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission authored a guest column advocating for continuing financial support for the commission to address the problem of induced earthquakes.
More remains to be done to ensure we can continue to develop oil and gas resources in a safe and responsible way. Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner: Effort on induced earthquakes is paying dividends
LOUISIANA
LSU survey finds 2016's severe weather greatly impacted state, Baton Rouge metro area beyond flooding The floods of 2016 didn't just swamp houses and businesses across swaths of Louisiana, but also hurt many people who lost income because of job disruptions, according to a new Community Resilience Study conducted by LSU. More than one-fourth of survey respondents statewide were directly affected by the severe weather in either the springtime or August, including either flooding losses or their income being affected, and that number is almost double for residents polled in the greater Baton Rouge area, according to the study.
Dennis Quaid cast as George W. Bush in upcoming 'Katrina: American Crime Story' Bush was criticized widely for the federal government's poor response to the disaster. The former president has been frank about the inadequate response, calling his administration’s handling of the disaster “unacceptable” and writing in his memoir that its legacy “lingered for the rest of my time in office.” Quaid joins a cast that also includes Matthew Broderick as Michael Brown, the former FEMA director, and Annette Bening as former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
FLORIDA
If a monster storm were to trigger an evacuation in the four primary counties of Tampa Bay, that could mean the escape of half the region – about 1.5 million people. That is a nightmare for gridlock in an area with a booming population but a busted road network, says the Tampa Bay Times. The article notes that not everyone has to drive 100 miles in an evacuation. Residents may only need to move further into their own counties, not head for another part of the state. The Florida Department of Transportation is hoping its new evacuation plan will help. The state's old plan called for converting major highways into one-way exit routes. Instead, DOT will convert the inner shoulder to an additional lane. That won't provide as much capacity, but officials said it's safer than the reverse-lanes plan.
Nearly 16,000 people in nine counties from Indian River to Miami-Dade evacuated to shelters during Hurricane Matthew, toting typical sleepover accessories — and their own personal demons.
Six evacuees who sought refuge at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach overdosed on drugs as the dangerous Category 4 cyclone approached South Florida.
In another county, a bus full of teenagers from a residential addiction-treatment center was left at an American Red Cross-run shelter without adult oversight.
“Many of the people from sober homes came with supervision, but some came and were just dropped off,” said Delray Beach Fire Rescue Capt. Kevin Saxton, who confirmed the six overdoses at Atlantic. “There were witnesses seeing people shoot up.”
Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater today announced that fraud-fighting efforts led by the Department of Financial Services took 322 law-breaking fraudsters off the streets during the first quarter of 2017. The Department’s anti-fraud efforts focus on the areas of public assistance and insurance fraud, arson, and the theft or abuse of state funds.
New York
An 18-year-old woman from Michigan was killed, and dozens were injured, when a reckless motorist plowed through Manhattan’s Times Square last week.
