Insurer Group Says Good Defense Played in 2006 S.D. Legislative Session

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America said that the South Dakota Legislature wrapped up its regular session yesterday following a final day primarily devoted to the consideration of executive vetoes.

“It was a good and relatively quiet session for insurers,” said Michael Harrold, PCI’s regional vice president and manager. “Attention to social welfare issues overshadowed many insurance-related bills that were introduced.”

PCI said it was instrumental in defeating legislation that would negatively impact insurers.

An unfair claims practices bill, HB 1046, introduced by the South Dakota Division of Insurance was tabled at the DOI’s request after industry opposition. A bill, HB 113, that would have restricted the use of global positioning system technology in motor vehicles was killed in committee. HB 1210, the Uniform Arbitration Model Act, was also killed by its supporters after PCI encouraged House members to strip a punitive damages provision from the bill when it was considered on the floor.

Another bill, SB 61, that would have created a motor vehicle database, was opposed by the industry until it was amended to create a task force to study the issue. The bill subsequently died on the House floor.

“Although PCI spent most of its time on the defensive, the 2006 session was a good one for insurers”, said Harrold. “We amended a security freeze/ID theft bill, SB 180, with an explicit carve out for adjusting a rate, adjusting a claim, or underwriting for insurance purposes.

In addition, the governor signed into law, industry supported clean-up legislation, SB 44, that repealed a rate filing waiting period that was a vestige of the prior approval system the state moved away from several years ago.”

PCI identifies itself as a national trade association composed of more than 1,000 member companies, representing the broadest cross-section of insurers of any national trade association. PCI members write over $184 billion in annual premium, 40.7 percent of the nation’s property/casualty insurance.

Source: PCI