On November 16, the State-Federal Relations Committee of the National Conference of Legislators (NCOIL) will consider a proposed Resolution Concerning the Recent Use of Legal Settlements as Public Policymaking Instruments in the Insurance Arena, sponsored for discussion by Rep. Greg Wren (AL) and Rep. Rich Golick (GA).  The resolution, among other things, expresses concern regarding the public policy implications of recent legal settlements with insurers and reaffirms the authority of state legislators to set insurance public policy. 

PIA National strongly supports this resolution and will voice our support at the meeting.  We intend to work with NCOIL and individual states to get this resolution introduced in as many legislatures throughout the country as we can. In fact, PIA worked with NCOIL to draft a friendly amendment to the resolution that will be offered by the Committee Chair, Craig Eiland (TX). We will work with our affiliates in each state to make sure we have a resolution tailored to your state.  PIA has been working with NCOIL on this issue since June 2006.  It is one part of our multi-faceted action plan to address the issue of using legal settlements to usurp the role of state legislatures. 

It is crucial to PIA members’ long term interests that our state insurance legislators speak publicly about the abuses resulting from the multi-state settlement process and the inappropriate preemption of authority by some state Attorneys General and insurance commissioners.  This proposed NCOIL resolution is the perfect vehicle for state legislators to affirm that the authority to implement insurance policy changes is theirs alone.

November 6, 2007