April 10, 2008

Massachusetts Financial Services Committee Approves Comprehensive Property Insurance Bill

On April 9, the Joint Legislative Committee on Financial Services approved comprehensive legislation aimed at addressing developments in the state’s coastal property insurance markets.

The legislation, which becomes the primary vehicle for legislative action on property insurance in the current session, is based on the work of the Special Commission to Review the Current State of the Homeowners Insurance Market in the Commonwealth. However, not all of the recommendations in the commission’s final report were adopted, and certain measures in the legislation were not included in the commission report.

As approved by the committee, the omnibus property insurance legislation contains provisions to:

Authorize the commissioner of insurance to produce consumer-friendly information regarding insurance coverages;
Govern insurers’ use of wind and hurricane deductibles;
Direct the commissioner of insurance to establish minimum policyholder benefits for mitigation measures;
Create a commission to study and certify catastrophe models;
Alter requirements regarding surplus lines insurers and reinsurance intermediaries;
Make several changes relating to the FAIR Plan’s coverage options, pricing and payment options, credit program, and board composition;
Study the feasibility of creating a low-interest loan program for mitigation measures and deductible issues.

Available to you is a summary of the bill prepared by the Financial Services Committee, as well as an article on the legislation from The Standard containing comments from Financial Services Committee House Chairman Rep. Ronald Mariano.

Direct questions to NAMIC State Affairs Manager Paul Tetrault.

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COMMENTS: Please direct all requests or comments to Director of Communications Jon Gorman at jgorman@namic.org, or NAMIC Advocacy Alert, 3601 Vincennes Rd., Indianapolis, IN 46268.

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