Federal lawmakers considering an “Office of Insurance Information” (OII) run the risk of leaving state legislators out of the loop on insurance issues, according to Rep. Brian P. Kennedy, President of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL).

“NCOIL finds it hard to close its eyes and ignore the lack of any state legislative presence in the congressional bill,” Kennedy said during testimony at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises held to discuss H.R. 5840. “We must say that it is incongruous that state legislators – who have shaped by statute the innovative and financially robust insurance marketplace that exists today – are nonexistent in this proposal.” Kennedy also expressed NCOIL’s indignity at, instead of gratitude for “having successfully steered the insurance sector through the pitfalls faced by many other financial services sectors” in the subprime crisis, state laws that have protected the solvency of the insurance industry so well are now in danger of being preempted by the federal government.

June 17, 2008