Colorado Insurance Division, R.I.P.?

By E.E. Mazier

NU Online News Service, May 14, 1:29 p.m. EST?The Colorado Division of Insurance said it would continue business today even though it is legally dead.

Delayed action by the Colorado legislature has left the state's insurance regulatory office technically without statutory authority to operate, the agency admitted today.

The division expired when the Colorado Assembly failed to finalize proposed legislation to continue its operations.

House Bill 02-1136, which would have continued statutory authority for the division, was introduced in January, and it passed the Assembly Feb. 4.

Although the bill was introduced in the Senate on Feb. 6, it wasn't until late on the last night of the legislative session that the Senate sent an amended version to the House for final action. As a result, the bill arrived too late for House action.

Deborah Collette, a spokesperson for the Insurance Division, explained that Colorado's Sunset Review law allows the legislature to periodically review various agencies, divisions and boards, and to dismantle any found not to be carrying out their proper functions. Otherwise, lawmakers must pass legislation to continue the authority of the reviewed entity.

Ms. Collette said that at the last moment --shortly before midnight May 8 --so many proposed amendments to the bill were before the Senate that the chamber was unable to work any faster.

Ms. Collette said that as a practical matter, this will not affect the division's ability to conduct business as usual or the insurance commissioner's power to carry out his duties.

She added that the division has been assured that the Department of Regulatory Agencies will introduce legislation early in the 2003 session to re-enact the Division's statutory authority.

Insurance Commissioner William J. Kirven III has declared, "We will do everything within our authority to see that consumers will not be affected by this."

In fact, as pointed out by Ms. Collette, the Colorado statutes specify that "during the wind-up period of a terminated entity, there will be no reduction or limitation of powers or authority of the division."

Ms. Collette added that the division has no reason to believe that the legislature intends to dismantle it.

The division said it regulates 1,636 companies and 65,000 individuals engaged in the transaction of insurance in the state.

The division stressed that in every state there is regulatory authority over the insurance industry and that efforts are underway to ensure that "Colorado remains in that category."

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Colorado Insurance Division, R.I.P.?

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