Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas House Bill HR798 Compare Versions

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1	1	H.R. No. 798
2	2
3	3
4	4	R E S O L U T I O N
5	5	WHEREAS, For more than 150 years, state insurance regulators
6	6	have provided effective consumer protection and industry
7	7	oversight; some members of the United States Congress, however,
8	8	have proposed to undermine this time-tested regulatory system by
9	9	allowing insurance companies to opt out of state oversight and into
10	10	a new federal system of chartering, licensing, regulation, and
11	11	supervision; and
12	12	WHEREAS, State lawmakers have a unique understanding of the
13	13	needs of their constituents and of the specific conditions and
14	14	characteristics that apply in their insurance marketplace; they are
15	15	able to assess and respond to changing circumstances specific to
16	16	their states with appropriate modifications to regulations; and
17	17	WHEREAS, A federal charter system would permit companies to
18	18	circumvent carefully crafted consumer protection laws and strong
19	19	solvency requirements that have been put in place by individual
20	20	states; proponents of such a federal system have cited the recent
21	21	collapse of the American International Group as justification for a
22	22	federal charter, but in fact, the insurance subsidiaries of AIG
23	23	that are regulated at the state level have generally retained their
24	24	value while federal oversight failed to prevent the meltdown of the
25	25	parent company; and
26	26	WHEREAS, Given the faltering economy, it is more important
27	27	than ever for state officials to exercise strong oversight of the
28	28	insurance industry for the benefit of consumers and to maintain the
29	29	stability of insurance companies; moreover, premium taxes on
30	30	insurance are a significant source of revenue for the general funds
31	31	of all states, providing more than two percent of state tax revenues
32	32	according to the United States Census; experts estimate that an
33	33	optional federal charter could eventually draw away from the states
34	34	more than $14 billion in premium taxes and fees; and
35	35	WHEREAS, The bifurcation of the insurance regulation system
36	36	is unnecessary and likely to promote confusion, ambiguity, and
37	37	fragmentation; it would create an expensive new federal bureaucracy
38	38	that would inevitably be less nimble and responsive than state
39	39	regulatory systems, while weakening the ability of the states to
40	40	protect the interests of their residents; the McCarran-Ferguson Act
41	41	of 1945 affirmed the role of states as principal regulators of
42	42	insurance, and there is no compelling reason to make a change in the
43	43	regulatory rights and responsibilities of the states; now,
44	44	therefore, be it
45	45	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 81st Texas
46	46	Legislature hereby express its opposition to any federal
47	47	legislation that would create an optional federal charter for
48	48	insurers; and, be it further
49	49	RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the Texas House of
50	50	Representatives forward official copies of this resolution to the
51	51	president of the United States, to the speaker of the house of
52	52	representatives and the president of the senate of the United
53	53	States Congress, to the members of the U.S. House Financial
54	54	Services Committee, to the members of the U.S. House Banking
55	55	Committee, to the U.S. secretary of the treasury, and to all members
56	56	of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this
57	57	resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
58	58	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
59	59	Taylor
60	60	Eiland
61	61	______________________________
62	62	Speaker of the House
63	63	I certify that H.R. No. 798 was adopted by the House on May
64	64	19, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 1, 2 present, not
65	65	voting.
66	66	______________________________
67	67	Chief Clerk of the House