Just got this via email from the Buncome County Democrat Party…
| Take Action! Your home & auto insurance about to increase 125% |
| Home & Auto Insurance Rates at Risk |
|
| This message comes to you at the request of Insurance Commissioner Jim Long:
URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Immediate action is needed on SB 901 because the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to take up the bill this coming Tuesday, May 22nd at 11 a.m. in Raleigh. With the “crossover” deadline looming only 2 days later, any thing could happen … and that is very, very dangerous for consumers and payers of insurance premiums here in North Carolina. Here is the summary: If SB 901 passes, then insurance companies will be able to file and use higher insurance rates automatically. If SB 901 had been in place in 2006, then insurance companies would have been able to charge homeowners in eastern and coastal NC up to a 125% increase in homeowners insurance premiums. If SB 901 passes, then the “burden of proof” – a powerful legal concept – will be moved from the insurance companies seeking rate increases to the Insurance Commissioner instead. What that means is that the Insurance Commissioner will have to prove that insurance rate hikes are unreasonable and excessive, etc., instead of insurance companies having the burden to prove why they should charge higher rates. If SB 901 passes, then it will remove the limitations for automobile and workers’ comp rate filings: Those insurance companies will be able to make multiple rate filings and rate hikes in one calendar year. If SB 901 passes, then the filed rates will go into effect immediately and would remain effective unless the Commissioner disputes the filing and a special Superior Court judge agrees with the Commissioner. If SB 901 passes, then the rate-setting authority will be shifted to a Special Superior Court Judge in Wake County and away from an Insurance Commissioner elected Statewide. If SB 901 passes, then a judge unfamiliar with the technical, complexities of insurance rate-setting – and without sufficient staff – will hear insurance rate-setting cases instead of the Commissioner of Insurance and his bevy of independent specialists working in the NC Department of Insurance. If SB 901 passes, then you are guaranteed that your automobile insurance rates will go up. Why? NC already enjoys being the 5th lowest in auto insurance premiums in the country. With SB 901 there is no where to go but higher premiums. If SB 901 passes, then insurance companies will even benefit from a new enormous windfall in the millions of dollars: Instead of having to refund excessive premiums to North Carolinians from the date the rates were raised by the companies, the insurance companies will only have to refund the amount of monies paid in unfairly since the decision by the Court. That is a huge change that will cost citizens and small businesses millions and millions of dollars. If SB 901 passes, the Department of Insurance anticipates that workers’ compensation premiums for NC small businesses will rise just as quickly as auto insurance. If SB 901 passes, then it will allow insurance companies to charge rates that are higher than the maximum approved rates. If SB 901 passes, then we know for certain that homeowners insurance premiums will rise up to 125% because of what insurance companies sought on the coast and in eastern NC in 2006, and based upon the activities of many of those companies in neighboring southern States. HERE’S THE LIST TO HELP YOU CONTACT THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE: Senator R.C. Soles, Jr. DEM Senator Tony Rand DEM Senator David W. Hoyle DEM Senator Tom Apodaca REP-116 (Co-sponsor) Senator Doug Berger DEM Senator Phil Berger REP Senator Julia Boseman DEM Office: 309 Legislative Building Phone: (919) 715-2525 E-mail: juliab@ncleg.net Senator Walter H. Dalton DEM Senator Katie G. Dorsett DEM Senator Tony Foriest DEM Senator James Forrester REP Senator Linda Garrou DEM Senator W. Edward Goodall REP Senator Steve Goss DEM Senator Malcolm Graham DEM Senator Kay R. Hagan DEM Senator Neal Hunt REP Senator Jim Jacumin REP Senator John H. Kerr III DEM Office: 526 Legislative Office Building Senator Vernon Malone DEM Senator Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. DEM Senator Martin L. Nesbitt, Jr. DEM Senator Robert Pittenger REP Senator William R. Purcell DEM Senator Larry Shaw DEM Senator Richard Stevens REP |
|
|
| We need you to take action! To learn more and take action, go to: http://www.buncombedems.org/actionalerts/index.cfm?Fuseaction=ActionDetail&actionalertid=31 |
|
|