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