SF 437

1st Engrossment - 80th Legislature (1997 - 1998) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing Congress to pass federal legislation 
  1.3             requiring persons selling insurance in federally 
  1.4             chartered financial institutions to comply with all 
  1.5             applicable state insurance laws and regulations.  
  1.6      
  1.7      WHEREAS, a recent United States Supreme Court decision has 
  1.8   held that federal banking law preempts state laws and 
  1.9   regulations that prevent the exercise of insurance sales by 
  1.10  federally chartered financial institutions; and 
  1.11     WHEREAS, while Minnesota has traditionally regulated 
  1.12  insurance professionals and insurance activities through the 
  1.13  Minnesota Department of Commerce, this decision has raised 
  1.14  questions regarding the scope of states' authority to regulate 
  1.15  the insurance activities of federally chartered financial 
  1.16  institutions; and 
  1.17     WHEREAS, insurance professionals are licensed and regulated 
  1.18  by the states in which they reside under the authority of state 
  1.19  insurance commissioners; and 
  1.20     WHEREAS, insurance sales and marketing practices and 
  1.21  insurance consumer protections are regulated at the state level 
  1.22  and overseen by state legislatures; and 
  1.23     WHEREAS, if federal preemption of state licensing, 
  1.24  education, and consumer protection laws occurred it could result 
  1.25  in nonlicensed and nonregulated individuals offering insurance 
  2.1   product; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, it is of great value to the citizens of Minnesota 
  2.3   to have the persons who sell insurance, their education and 
  2.4   sales practices, the products they sell, and insurance consumer 
  2.5   protections all regulated in an understandable and uniform 
  2.6   fashion; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.7      BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.8   that it urges Congress to immediately enact legislation to 
  2.9   assure that all persons selling insurance must comply with state 
  2.10  insurance licensing and educational requirements. 
  2.11     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that such legislation would also 
  2.12  require persons selling insurance through a federally chartered 
  2.13  financial institution or its subsidiaries to comply with all 
  2.14  insurance statutes that are designed to protect the insurance 
  2.15  buying public or apply to insurance professionals regulated by 
  2.16  their respective states provided that such statutes would apply 
  2.17  uniformly and do not have the effect of treating financial 
  2.18  institutions either more advantageously or restrictively than 
  2.19  any other providers of the same or similar types of insurance. 
  2.20     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.21  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.22  memorial and transmit them to the President and the Secretary of 
  2.23  the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
  2.24  United States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate 
  2.25  Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, the chair of 
  2.26  the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and 
  2.27  Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.