On July 21, NCOIL will host a panel discussion entitled Attorneys General and Insurance Policymaking: Courting State Regulation? PIA National Vice President/Treasurer Ken Auerbach will present PIA’s views on the dangers of using legal settlements to alter and/or establish insurance regulations.  The discussion is scheduled to be general in nature, but the panelists are expected to address recent cases in which some AGs and regulators are attempting to impose restrictions on producers’ compensation and mandate disclosure procedures on producers.
 
Auerbach will be joined on the panel by: Wes Bissett, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA); Richard Liskov, Special Counsel, Chadbourne & Parke, LLP; Michael McRaith, Director of Insurance, Illinois Insurance Dept., Chairman of the NAIC’s Broker Activities Task Force; and Mark Tobey, Chief of Anti-Trust & Civil Medicaid Fraud Division, Office of the Attorney General of Texas.

On July 20, the State-Federal Relations Committee 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.

July 17, 2007