The leader of a major property-casualty insurance trade organization urged a group of state lawmakers yesterday to get behind legislation now pending in Congress that would preempt elements of state insurance regulation.
Ernst Csiszar, president and chief executive officer of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, told a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Washington that "the regulatory system is going to break, and we need to fix it before it does."
Speaking at ALEC's states and nation policy summit, the former National Association of Insurance Commissioners president said that state policymakers should seriously consider the benefits of the State Modernization and Regulatory Transparency Act, which could come before Congress next year.
"SMART would continue to give states regulatory authority, but would tweak it with limited federal intervention that would create uniformity, efficiency and competition that will benefit consumers," Mr. Csiszar said.
PCI members remain "disgusted" with the current regulatory system, he added.
Mr. Csiszar also said there was a need to strike a balance between the private market and government intervention when it comes to protecting consumers from the risk of natural catastrophes that approach the "mega" level.
"Clearly a one-size-fits-all approach to mega-catastrophes will not work," he said. "Undoubtedly this issue will require a great deal of work."
A proposal for such a public-private partnership scheme involving state and federal natural catastrophe backstop funds was introduced at the NAIC meeting earlier this week and received a mixed reception.
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