NCOIL: We'll Charge Less
By Daniel Hays
NU Online News Service, May 12, 3:10 p.m. EDT?The National Conference of Insurance Legislators said yesterday it will continue a controversial program announced in January to charge fees for Web site documents, but most prices will be slashed.[@@]
Following a conference call session, the Albany, N.Y.-based group said it had voted to revise its system for the www.ncoil.org site in response to the concerns of interested parties.
When the plan was originally announced, press and consumer voices condemned the restriction of information as against the public interest.
The press cannot access price tag material directly from the Web site, but the organization said it would send along individually requested documents at no charge.
NCOIL said in January the policy–involving to meeting minutes, summary reports, model legislation and resolutions–was adopted to encourage more states to join the group, in addition to the 33 already belonging.
NCOIL's president, Florida State Sen. Steven A. Geller, D-Hallandale, said some states took the attitude that they could avoid paying the $10,000 annual membership and $350 meeting fees because they access everything the organization did for free on the Web.
The group also said it was following a precedent set by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments and other groups that bill for documents.
Under NCOIL's latest policy, the group said the Web site would continue to make public without charge the memo which details items on the agenda for the next scheduled NCOIL meeting and proposed model legislation to be discussed.
Candace Frick, NCOIL's director of legislative affairs and education, said the only price increase was for industry members or students who wanted the full package of documents created at a meeting. The package cost, she said, will go from $125 to $250. Industry members who pay dues to NCOIL, who had been scheduled to pay $125 for the package, will now pay $50.
Non-profit consumer advocates, legislators from non-member states and regulators from non-member states will pay $100 instead of the originally scheduled $125 package fee.
Those who register for a conference are given a password and can access the package from that meeting only for free. Three consumer advocates are given free registration for each meeting.
Individual document prices, which previously were $50, will now be $20 for industry members and $30 for consumer advocates, non-member legislators and regulators. Students and non-member industry individuals will pay $50 for the first document in a transaction and $40 for additional requests.
Everything on the site is free for NCOIL member legislators.
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