House Resolution 119 - Introduced PAG LIN H.R. ________ S.R. ________ 1 1 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 1 2 BY WISE, PETERSEN, and OLDSON 1 3 A Resolution expressing opposition to federal legislation 1 4 that would threaten the power of the states to oversee, 1 5 regulate, and investigate the business of insurance 1 6 and to protect consumers. 1 7 WHEREAS, regulation, oversight, and consumer 1 8 protection have traditionally and historically been 1 9 powers reserved to state governments under the federal 1 10 McCarran=Ferguson Act of 1945; and 1 11 WHEREAS, state legislatures are more responsive to 1 12 the needs of their constituents and the need for 1 13 insurance products and regulation to meet their 1 14 state's unique market demands; and 1 15 WHEREAS, many states, including Iowa, have recently 1 16 enacted and amended state insurance laws to modernize 1 17 market regulation and provide insurers with greater 1 18 ability to respond to changes in market conditions; 1 19 and 1 20 WHEREAS, state legislatures, the National 1 21 Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), the 1 22 National Association of Insurance Commissioners 1 23 (NAIC), and the National Conference of State 1 24 Legislatures (NCSL) continue to address uniformity 1 25 issues between state insurance laws by adoption of 1 26 model laws that address market conduct, product 1 27 approval, agent and company licensing, and rate 1 28 deregulation; and 1 29 WHEREAS, initiatives are being contemplated by 1 30 certain members of the United States Congress that 2 1 have the potential to destroy the state system of 2 2 insurance regulation and create an unwieldy and 2 3 inaccessible federal bureaucracy, all without consumer 2 4 or constituent demand; and 2 5 WHEREAS, such initiatives include S. 40/H.R. 3200, 2 6 titled as the National Insurance Act of 2007, which 2 7 proposed federal charter legislation would bifurcate 2 8 insurance regulation and result in a quagmire of 2 9 federal and state directives that would promote 2 10 ambiguity and confusion; and 2 11 WHEREAS, adoption of S. 40/H.R. 3200 would allow 2 12 companies to opt out of state insurance regulatory 2 13 oversight and evade important state consumer 2 14 protections; and 2 15 WHEREAS, the mechanism that would be established 2 16 under S. 40/H.R. 3200 does not, and cannot by its very 2 17 nature, respond as state regulation does, to each 2 18 state's individual and unique insurance markets and 2 19 constituent concerns; and 2 20 WHEREAS, S. 40/H.R. 3200 has the potential to 2 21 compromise state guaranty fund coverage, and employers 2 22 could be forced to absorb losses otherwise covered by 2 23 these safety nets for businesses affected by 2 24 insolvencies; and 2 25 WHEREAS, S. 40/H.R. 3200 does not fully guarantee 2 26 state premium tax revenues in the long term and has 2 27 the potential to draw premium tax revenue from the 2 28 states; NOW THEREFORE, 2 29 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 2 30 That the House of Representatives joins the National 3 1 Conference of State Legislatures in expressing its 3 2 strong opposition to S. 40/H.R. 3200 and any other 3 3 federal legislation that threatens the power of state 3 4 legislatures, governors, insurance commissioners, and 3 5 attorney generals to oversee, regulate, and 3 6 investigate the business of insurance and to protect 3 7 consumers; and 3 8 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this 3 9 resolution be printed and forwarded to the members of 3 10 the Iowa Congressional delegation in the United States 3 11 House and Senate, and also to members of the United 3 12 States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 3 13 Affairs, and the United States House of 3 14 Representatives Committee on Financial Services. 3 15 LSB 6584HH 82 3 16 av/nh/14