The state Department of Insurance applied the state's ethics law to its employees.

Department spokeswoman Kristin Milam said the department would not be changing its policy on gifts in the wake of Gov. Beverly Perdue's executive order banning gifts for all employees in her administration. 

The insurance department policy, first adopted in 1985 and revised in 2008, prohibits gifts to employees from anyone who might want something from the state, even if the gift is just mean to build good will.

No employee shall knowingly accept a gift or anything of value, directly or indirectly, from a lobbyist or lobbyist principal. For the purposes of this Policy, the term "lobbying" shall mean any of the following:

(1) Influencing or attempting to influence legislative or executive action, or both, through direct communication or activities with a designated individual or that person's immediate family.

(2) Developing goodwill through communications or activities, including the building of relationships, with a designated individual or that person's immediate family with the intention of influencing current or future legislative or executive action, or both.

The term "lobbying" does not include communications or activities as part of a business, civic, religious, fraternal, personal, or commercial relationship which is not connected to legislative or executive action, or both.

Update: Post now clarifies when the policy was enacted. 

The heads of the departments of Insurance and Administration are teaming up their staffs to save money and speed up construction projects.

State officials project the new arrangement could save $1.4 million on every $100 million in construction.

About 15 experts from the Insurance Department's plan review office will move into the state construction office so that the two agencies can more efficiently review construction plans funded by new federal stimulus money, said Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin. He signed a memorandum of understanding this morning with the Department of Administration's Chief Operating Officer, Kevin McLaughlin, whose department includes the construction office.

As commissioner, Goodwin also serves as state fire marshal. He said the plan accelerates the construction work, which aids the slumping economy, but also ensures the safety of new construction.

"Our people need jobs," Goodwin said, "and to work and do business in buildings that are safe."

On Jan. 1, North Carolina drivers must carry underinsured/uninsured coverage on their vehicles.

Such coverage is designed to kick in if someone hits your car and either doesn't have insurance or doesn't have enough insurance to cover damages to others. The vast majority if state residents already have the coverage, said Fred Fuller, regulatory project manager at the N.C. Department of Insurance.

"We don't consider it to be a big thing," Fuller said. "Most prudent people tend to carry uninsured and underinsured motorist policies."

In January you have to. The legislature adopted a series of changes to the state's insurance law. One change takes away the right to decline the coverage.

For drivers who already have the coverage — and if you don't you had to sign a form declining it — the change will mean nothing. For those who don't have it, your premium may go up a bit, although it shouldn't be a big hike. 

The N.C. Department of Insurance doesn't seem to agree with itself on how big of a problem the Beach Plan insurance program is facing.

The government-created insurance program for coastal counties doesn't have anywhere near the money it would need to pay damages if a big storm hits. So if a hurricane strikes, the Beach Plan would collect funds from private insurance companies that do business in the state. Those private companies are now proposing to raise the rates on all customers in the state in order to have the money to pay for Beach Plan customers' potential damage. That idea has legislators -- and just about everyone else -- in inland counties steamed.

One lingering question has been: Where was the Insurance Department as this problem was ballooning over the past five years? Perhaps the answer lies in the department's own conflicting answers about the Beach Plan. Let's go to the highlights reel:

"I've described it as a ticking time bomb and it is." -- Assistant Commissioner of Insurance and Commissioner-elect Wayne Goodwin, Dome, Nov. 5, 2008.

"It's not a ticking time bomb." -- Kristin Milam, director of public information, Department of Insurance, Dec. 14, 2008, in the N&O.

"The (insurance) industry has been working to get out their message that there is a crisis. There are reasons to be concerned, though not to the extent touted by the insurance industry." -- Commissioner Jim Long in a Nov. 14, 2008, letter to Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight

"It is a crisis." -- Long, on Dec. 4, 2008, in an interview with the N&O.