NCOIL President Calls For State Uniformity Push

NU Online News Service, Jan. 28, 11:02 a.m.EST?State Rep. Kathleen Keenan, D-St Albans, Vt., theNational Conference of Insurance Legislators president, announcednew committee heads for the group yesterday and said NCOIL mustwork to create more uniformity in regulations.

"State lawmakers must focus on streamlining the current systemof insurance regulation so it becomes more uniform and so iteffectively protects consumers, fosters competition, and does notplace insurance providers at a competitive disadvantage with othersectors of the financial services industry," Ms. Keenan said in astatement.

This year, Ms. Keenan said, will be vitally important for statelegislators and NCOIL, "given the unprecedented political andinsurance marketplace realities."

Issues that face NCOIL's leadership, she said in a statement,include scarcity and price increases in the commercial and personalinsurance markets, growing concerns over availability andaffordability of health insurance, "a push by some to erode thestate regulatory system", and the ongoing threat of terrorism.

Named as committee chairs were: Health Insurance, Rep. BrianKennedy of Rhode Island; International Insurance Issues, Rep. MarkYoung, Vermont; Life Insurance, Sen. James Seward, New York;Property-Casualty Insurance, Rep. George Keiser, North Dakota;State-Federal Relations, Sen. Neil Breslin, New York; and Workers'Compensation Insurance Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun, New York.

NCOIL members are state legislators whose main area of publicpolicy concern is insurance legislation and regulation. Many statelegislators active in NCOIL either chair or are members of thecommittees responsible for insurance legislation in theirrespective state houses across the country.

NCOIL's National Office is in Albany, N.Y.