A state lawmaker's complaint that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners conducts too much business behind closed doors has struck a chord with industry and consumer representatives.
David Snyder, assistant general counsel for the American Insurance Association, said NAIC commissioners should follow the most open of any state open meeting law in conducting its business.
Last week Brian Kennedy, National Conference of Insurance Legislators vice president, told NAIC President Walter Bell that the group is "abusing the use and purposes of executive session."
The Democratic lawmaker from Hopkinton, R.I., rejected Mr. Bell's contention that the NAIC as a nonpublic body is not bound by state open meeting laws.
"No commissioner or supervisor has the right to ignore the laws of their respective state and conduct clandestine meetings," Mr. Kennedy wrote.
Mr. Snyder agreed. He specifically cited the closing of the Government Affairs Committee that deals with federal legislative issues as one violation of good policy.
"I don't think there is any allowance for discussion of legislative strategy as a reason to close a meeting in state law," he said.
As for the argument that the group is not subject to state law, Mr. Snyder said, "it seems to me they are state officials when it suits their convenience and not when it doesn't."
Birny Birnbaum, director of the Austin, Texas-based Center of Economic Justice and funded-consumer NAIC representative, said the group wants to have it both ways.
"When it testifies before Congress or submits amicus briefs to courts, it presents itself as [a group of] government officials," Mr. Birnbaum said.
But when it is asked to act like a government agency in terms of open meetings and accountability, it claims to be a nonprofit organization.
And given the fact that many NAIC work products are referenced in state laws, "it is clear that NAIC should be conducting its business like a government agency subject to open meetings and full accountability," Mr. Birnbaum asserted.
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