NAMIC Announces 2002 National State Legislative Agenda

January 1, 2002

Passage of rate modernization laws and opposition to proposals that would prohibit the use of consumer credit histories to develop insurance scoring models, are on the national state legislative agenda for The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) in 2002.

“Rate modernization is central to maintaining state-based regulation and is our top legislative priority,” said Roger H. Schmelzer, NAMIC vice president-regulatory affairs. “NAMIC, working with our state and national trade partners, is pursuing the NCOIL Property & Casualty Modernization Model Act as the primary “We are in the process of building political support for a more competitive approach to rating for all lines of insurance,” said Neil Alldredge, NAMIC state relations manager.

“Using a credit score in combination with traditional underwriting factors has proven to be an effective tool for insurers,” Schmelzer said. “A very high NAMIC priority for 2002 is to support measures that allow for credit to be used along with other factors in both rate making and underwriting.”

NAMIC member companies also continue to support advocacy of uniform producer licensing laws and state privacy laws that do not exceed the federal requirements established in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, according to Schmelzer.

New to the NAMIC agenda is terrorism. NAMIC will oppose efforts to require companies to write high-risk coverage left uncovered due to reinsurance exclusion.

“While we have been active and will remain active in the NAIC process, we are committed to a high level of involvement at the state level where public policy is implemented,” Schmelzer said. “These are national insurance regulatory issues that are moving through the states and they require increased advocacy on behalf of our member companies.”

Alldredge cited partnerships with state insurance trade associations as critical to the success of the NAMIC agenda. “State trades have the best idea of how to pursue an issue in a particular state legislature,” he said. “We are proud of the collaborative relationships we have built around the country with our state association colleagues. We believe those relationships will be the key to our effectiveness.”

A State Legislative Scorecard provides easy access to the current version of each related bill on the NAMIC agenda as well as a brief substantive summary and continuous updates to reflect the latest actions reported on each. The Scorecard records the progress of this core group of issues and can be accessed from the State channel of NAMIC’s Web site.

The collective year-end results related to NAMIC’s 2002 National State Legislative Agenda as chronicled through the State Legislative Scorecard are used to create the foundation for another state legislative reporting feature of NAMIC Online, the Annual Survey of New State Insurance Laws.

Topics Legislation

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