AB 1200 (Hayashi) Passes Senate And Sent Back To Assembly
As we reported in our August 30 blog post, AB 1200 (Hayashi) was amended in a way which dealt with our reservations and then failed on the Senate floor on August 24. However, that proved only a temporary set-back. The bill passed 21-17 on September 4, and has now been sent back, in its amended form, to the Assembly. Passage is a significant achievement. The amended legislation protects insurers’ commercial free speech rights in contexts other than describing their own policy benefits and eliminates the implication in the earlier form of the bill that such rights can be suppressed. By carving out all forms of valid communications to claimants, the bill also implicitly adopts the approach taken by New York courts where it is recognized that such communications do not constitute “suggest[ing]” or “recommend[ing]” within the meaning of a New York regulatory regime akin to existing Insurance Code Section 758.5.
September 4, 2009
Posted in: Blog