A Hartsville, S.C. senator called for hearings Thursday to study whether the state Insurance Department is operating efficiently.
Democratic Sen. Gerald Malloy wants the hearings held before action is taken to overhaul the South Carolina’s workers’ compensation laws.
Businesses stung by rate increases are pushing for the overhaul, but opponents say the effort will reduce benefits for injured workers. The disagreements come as insurers argue for rate increases.
Some legislators have raised questions about how the Insurance Department is being managed. About a year ago, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford chose Eleanor Kitzman to run the agency. Since then, two of the agency’s most experienced regulators have left.
Malloy introduced legislation Thursday that calls for the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee to study whether the agency is “operating efficiently and succeeding in its mission of protecting the public interest, the interests of insurance consumers, and the insurance marketplace through its regulation of the insurance business” in South Carolina.
Insurance Department spokeswoman Ann Roberson said the special legislation wasn’t needed.
“I know that our doors are always open for any questions, concerns or comments from anyone including legislators,” Roberson said. “We don’t need special legislation to do what we do everyday. We will continue to go about the business of protecting insurance consumers, the public interest and the insurance marketplace.”
Malloy said legislators “need to get some answers to some questions and have the authority to further investigate it.”
Malloy, a lawyer who handles workers’ comp cases, opposes much of the overhaul backed by businesses, the governor and many House and Senate leaders. He said he was acting out his constituents’ interests, not his own.
Sanford’s spokesman Joel Sawyer disagreed.
“It’s no surprise that trial lawyers in the Senate who are lining their own pockets on the backs of South Carolina’s businesses would want to delay much-needed reform of a broken workers’ compensation system,” Sawyer said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said earlier this week that he has numerous questions involving the Insurance Department’s handling of workers’ compensation.
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