Mr. Romney said, "Too many families in our Commonwealth struggle to pay the high cost of rising auto insurance bills. Our system is so inefficient that most of the major national insurance companies won't do business here. So, our premiums just keep going up. This is the year for auto insurance reform."

Tami Stanton, NAMIC's Massachusetts state affairs manager, said in a statement that while the group is cheering the governor's effort, it believes the state should follow an insurers' road map for regulatory and legislative reforms that is already on the table.

"NAMIC stands firm behind our recommendations which start with the essential overhaul of Massachusetts' lopsided residual market system, Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers," Ms. Stanton said. "CAR requires lower risk policyholders to pay higher rates to ensure that other, higher risk policyholders have lower rates than justified by the risk they pose. This system distorts the market, resulting in dependencies that must be dismantled.

"Along with significant CAR reforms, Massachusetts needs to address its status as the only state where the insurance commissioner has the authority to fix and establish the rates for automobile insurance if the commissioner judges the market uncompetitive," added Ms. Stanton.

She said, "These two reforms would go a long way in providing relief to insurers and consumers alike. For verification, Massachusetts' lawmakers need only look to the signs of improvement in New Jersey's auto insurance market following last year's legislative reforms."

Massachusetts' insurance commissioner, Julianne M. Bowler, has prompted carriers and industry associations to get together under the Concerned Industry Committee to discuss and outline reform of the CAR program.

The committee's report is due within the next two or three weeks (see NU Daily News, Jan. 17).