2008 0610 - GOV (House) - H.R. 5840, The Insurance Information Act of 2008, Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
- 2008 0610 - GOV (House) - H.R. 5840, The Insurance Information Act of 2008, Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) --- [BonkNote]
- [PDF-129p, VIDEO-?] - R
- Kanjorski, Mcraith, Rahn, Stephen E., Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Lincoln Financial Group, on behalf of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI)
- AAA - American Academy of Actuaries - 2008 0729 - 2p
- AIA - 2008 0610 - 7p
- NCOIL - (p14) - Brian P. Kennedy, Representative, Rhode Island House of Representatives, and President, National Conference of Insurance Legislator - 2008 0611 - 2p
- DOTT - 2008 0610 - 3p
- House - Committee on Financial Services - Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
- (p14) - NCOIL - Brian P. Kennedy, Representative, Rhode Island House of Representatives, and President, National Conference of Insurance Legislator.
- When commenting on H.R. 5840, NCOIL finds it hard to close its eyes and ignore the lack of any State legislative presence because it is the State legislators that have shaped, by statute, the robust insurance market that exists today. It is ironic that States should bear the burden of proof to half preemption of the very laws that successfully steered the insurance sector through the pitfalls that have faced similar industries.
- State solvency laws have helped make the insurance market stable while the banking market, under Federal regulation, was rocked by the savings and loan scandals of the 1990’s, and by the subprime lending crisis of today. And even Federal initiatives, including ERISA, FEMA, and the NFIP have often fallen short of their goals.
- Regarding the NAIC role in this proposal, NCOIL believes that giving the NAIC a primary role in the Office of Insurance Information allows the tail to wag the dog. State regulators, four-fifths of which are gubernatorial appointees, are authorized by legislators to interpret and enforce the statutes that we develop. H.R. 5840 would dramatically enhance the authority of the NAIC at the expense of the State officials to whom they, as insurance regulators, are accountable.
- It is unprecedented that the Federal Government would give such power to a private trade association—I repeat, a private trade association—or to what NAIC immediate past resident Walter Bell of Alabama in an April 9, 2007, letter called: ‘‘a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with voluntary membership and not a State government entity.’’ This NAIC president went on to say that: ‘‘When individual insurance commissioners gather as members of the NAIC, they are not considered a governmental entity or a public body as defined by the various open meeting laws, but rather are a private group. As an organization, the NAIC does not have any regulatory authority.’’
- We have noticed that Congress, like us, does not take lightly the ceding of authority to an Executive Branch. This was evidenced by your reaction to the Bush Administration’s August 2000 SCHIP enrollment directive. Now Congress is asking State legislators to cede authority to a private trade group.