Two key state legislators who are demanding that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners end locked-door proceedings managed to get by a security guard last week and secure admittance to part of a closed NAIC executive session.

The confrontation here at the NAIC quarterly meeting involved Rhode Island State Rep. Brian Kennedy, D-Hopkinton, who is vice president and president-elect of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, and Kentucky State Rep. Robert Damron, D-Jessamine, NCOIL's treasurer.

Rep. Damron said when he arrived at the NAIC Commissioners Roundtable session here–which reviews issues of import that arise during quarterly meetings–his name was on a “Do Not Admit” list.

After he was denied entry by a security guard, Rep. Damron said representatives of the NAIC–including Kay Noonan, NAIC's legal counsel–spoke with him and apologized, explaining that it was a mistake.

He said he was told a “Do Not Admit” e-mail on which the guard had found his name was focused on issues of specific companies and other nonpublic discussions.

Both Rep. Damron and Rep. Kennedy, before they were given NAIC admission packets to the session, were asked to sign statements that they were legislators and did not have connections to the insurance industry.

Rep. Kennedy entered the meeting with a commissioner and stayed through the Commissioners Roundtable. For the last three items on the agenda, he said he was informed by Ms. Noonan there were legal matters to be discussed and left the meeting.

Prior to attending the NAIC session, Rep. Kennedy had written NAIC President Walter Bell, complaining that the organization is “abusing the use and purpose of executive sessions.”

Mr. Bell, Alabama's insurance commissioner, has said the NAIC has a “liberal open meetings policy” and that he stands behind the right to close sessions when required.

Last week, Rep. Kennedy said that although he saw progress in the fact that he was allowed to stay during this particular session, all NAIC sessions should be open.

In fact, Rep. Kennedy said that at least one commissioner expressed the opinion during the roundtable session that if the NAIC wants to get state legislation enacted, it would be to its benefit to invite legislators at least two to three times a year to the roundtable meetings.

Rep. Damron said that as a legislator, he should have access to the meeting unless it focuses on issues of specific companies or personnel or legal issues.

In fact, he said that meetings, including the roundtables, should be open to everyone including consumer representatives and journalists. He said NCOIL and other policy-making organizations such as the National Conference of State Legislatures keep their meetings open.

Rep. Damron said he was “highly offended” when his name showed up on the “Do Not Admit” e-mail, and he told the guard not to destroy the e-mail because he would want to obtain a copy. “It became very personal this morning,” he said.

Although he said he is waiting to see how the NAIC responds in the future, he has left open the possibility of consulting his state attorney general in Kentucky over the NAIC's closed sessions.

In his own legislature, Rep. Damron said he has fought to make sure meetings are open because he knows that if they are kept closed, “you risk losing the confidence of the public.”

Rep. Kennedy on June 1 sent a letter to the 50 insurance state legislative committees.

In his letter, Rep. Kennedy informed his fellow lawmakers that “your insurance commissioner or insurance supervisor is violating your state open meetings law and the oath of office they took for that position every time that they attend an NAIC meeting. The NAIC is routinely holding executive sessions at its national meetings, despite the fact that regulators are discussing legislative strategy issues that are not germane for calling such closed sessions.”

Rep. Kennedy continued that “the NAIC is abusing the use and purpose of executive sessions by failing to conduct conference business in public.”

“Insurance commissioners and supervisors seem to think that their oath of office and rules of conduct cease to apply when they cross state geographical boundaries into another jurisdiction,” he said, “and yet the only reason that they sit at the executive table during these meetings is because of the oath of office they took after appointment by the executive branch, or in some cases by the election process.”

He added that “no insurance commissioner or supervisor has the right to ignore the laws of their respective state, and that includes open meetings laws.”

Rep. Kennedy also wrote that he is “unaware of any other private nonprofit organization having the same right or privilege to assess fees against states in the manner utilized by the NAIC.”

Special Reports /

Lawmakers Crash Closed NAIC Session

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