By Counts                                            H.C.R. No. 295
         77R17109 JXC-D                           
                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, States have sole regulatory authority over the
 1-2     business of insurance as provided under the McCarran-Ferguson Act
 1-3     and reaffirmed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services
 1-4     Modernization Act; and
 1-5           WHEREAS, The objectives of state insurance regulation are to
 1-6     protect consumers and to ensure the security and stability of
 1-7     insurance companies operating throughout the nation; state
 1-8     insurance regulation has met these goals for many years,
 1-9     confronting great changes in the marketplace and in the
1-10     modernization of financial services; and
1-11           WHEREAS, Despite the historic and continuing success of state
1-12     insurance regulation, states are facing numerous challenges to
1-13     their authority; federal efforts with regard to financial services
1-14     modernization, electronic commerce, and globalization undermine
1-15     state regulation; further, federal efforts to remove regulatory
1-16     barriers between banks and other financial institutions could
1-17     create an advantage for financial service industries at the expense
1-18     of the insurance industry; and
1-19           WHEREAS, Some national associations representing insurers and
1-20     banks doing business in insurance have drafted federal legislation
1-21     designed to either establish one federal regulator of insurance or
1-22     to allow for dual federal and state regulation; and
1-23           WHEREAS, The pursuit of federal regulation of the insurance
1-24     industry erodes state authority and could lead to congressional
 2-1     preemption of state insurance laws; and
 2-2           WHEREAS, As a result of these actions, the National
 2-3     Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of
 2-4     Insurance Commissioners have recognized the urgent need to
 2-5     streamline and simplify state insurance regulation and have made a
 2-6     commitment to encourage and support state efforts to do so; now,
 2-7     therefore, be it
 2-8           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
 2-9     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
2-10     oppose any proposal to establish either a federal or a bifurcated
2-11     system of insurance regulation and to maintain and assure states'
2-12     authority to regulate the business of insurance; and, be it further
2-13           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
2-14     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
2-15     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
2-16     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of
2-17     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
2-18     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
2-19     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.