2004 Legislation
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SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 106 – Insurance, state regulation maintnd

SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 106

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SJM106......................................by COMMERCE AND HUMAN RESOURCES
INSURANCE - Stating findings of the Legislature and stating that the
Legislature is committed to maintaining the states as the sole regulators
of the business of insurance and that the Legislature will oppose any
proposed federal law that undermines this state authority.
                                                                        
02/11    Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/12    Rpt prt - to 10th Ord
02/13    10th Ord - ADOPTED - voice vote
    Floor Sponsor - Goedde
    Title apvd - to House
02/16    House intro - 1st rdg - to Bus
02/20    Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/23    2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/25    3rd rdg - ADOPTED - voice vote
    Floor Sponsor - Deal
    Title apvd - to Senate
02/26    To enrol
02/27    Rpt enrol - Pres signed
03/01    Sp signed
03/02    To Secretary of State

Bill Text


                                                                        
                                                                        
  ]]]]              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ]]]]
 Fifty-seventh Legislature                 Second Regular Session - 2004
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                       IN THE SENATE
                                                                        
                               SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 106
                                                                        
                         BY COMMERCE AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE
                                                                        
  1                                   A JOINT MEMORIAL
  2    TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF  REPRESENTA-
  3        TIVES  OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, TO THE SECRETARY OF THE
  4        TREASURY, TO THE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION REPRESENTING THE STATE OF  IDAHO
  5        IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES AND TO GOVERNOR KEMPTHORNE.
                                                                        
  6        We,  your Memorialists, the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
  7    State of Idaho assembled in the Second Regular Session  of  the  Fifty-seventh
  8    Idaho Legislature, do hereby respectfully represent that:
                                                                        
  9        WHEREAS,  protecting  consumers  and  ensuring the safety and soundness of
 10    insurance companies operating in the United States have been the prime  objec-
 11    tives of state insurance regulation for over 150 years; and
 12        WHEREAS,  the  states  have the sole authority to regulate the business of
 13    insurance as provided under the McCarran-Ferguson Act and as recently affirmed
 14    by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999; and
 15        WHEREAS, state insurance regulation has been successful and effective, and
 16    has continuously adapted to change in the marketplace including, but not  lim-
 17    ited to, the challenges of financial services modernization; and
 18        WHEREAS,  in  responding to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Mod-
 19    ernization Act, states already have successfully implemented reforms  to  meet
 20    the  requirements  of  the  law including, among other things, agent licensing
 21    reform and consumer financial privacy protections, and are working to  develop
 22    and implement further efficiencies; and
 23        WHEREAS,  governors,  state  legislators, and insurance commissioners have
 24    acknowledged the need to streamline and simplify insurance regulation for  the
 25    21st  century financial services marketplace and are enacting specific reforms
 26    to address differences in state laws and rules that can present  obstacles  to
 27    insurers, consumers' needs, and marketplace efficiencies; and
 28        WHEREAS,  some  insurance companies and national associations representing
 29    insurers and banks support federal legislation to either establish one federal
 30    regulator of insurance or allow for dual federal and state  insurance  regula-
 31    tion; and
 32        WHEREAS,  if enacted by Congress, these proposals will bifurcate insurance
 33    regulation between the states and  the  federal  government,  undermining  the
 34    state  system  of  consumer protections and financial surveillance, as well as
 35    inevitably causing a loss of jobs, taxes, fees, and other vital and  necessary
 36    state revenues needed to effectively regulate the insurance market and provide
 37    revenues to support residual market programs, such as high-risk pools.
 38        NOW,  THEREFORE,  BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the Second Regular Ses-
 39    sion of the Fifty-seventh Idaho Legislature, the Senate and the House of  Rep-
 40    resentatives  concurring  therein,  that the Idaho Legislature is committed to
 41    maintaining the states as the sole regulators of the  business  of  insurance,
 42    and  continue  to  support state efforts to streamline, simplify and modernize
 43    insurance regulation.
 44        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Idaho Legislature will oppose any proposed
                                                                        
                                           2
                                                                        
  1    federal law that undermines this state authority, including allowing  insurers
  2    the  ability  to  obtain  federal charters, or ceding any authority to federal
  3    agencies to regulate financial institutions involved in the business of insur-
  4    ance.
  5        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate  be,  and  she  is
  6    hereby authorized and directed to forward a copy of this Memorial to the Pres-
  7    ident of the United States, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the
  8    House  of Representatives of Congress, the Secretary of the Treasury, the con-
  9    gressional delegation representing the State of Idaho in the Congress  of  the
 10    United States, and Governor Dirk Kempthorne as chairman of the National Gover-
 11    nors Association.