Taking Stock of 2010 State Legislative Sessions

Now that most state legislatures have closed shop for the year, it’s a good time to look back at highlights and lowlights and take stock of how insurance issues fared in the 2010 state legislative sessions.

Overall, on a nationwide basis, the 2010 session was a bit quieter than expected by many insurer representatives, likely due to a couple of factors. One, for most states 2010 is an election year, which can shift attention from substantive matters and make incumbent legislators think twice about pushing potentially controversial issues. Two, many states continued to struggle with budget deficit shortfalls due to the economic conditions, leaving little time and energy to focus on other matters.