Sen. Velella Asks Gov. Cuomo To Stop Insurance Dept. Expenditures For NAIC Activities; Urges Support For Bill Calling For Retaliatory Power.

• Position: [LOOKING BACK] INSURANCE ADVOCATE - 26 YEARS AGO

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York State Senator Guy J. Velella (R.C. Bronx/Westchester), who has been in contention with the national insurance regulatory association over its position on model bills and state accreditation, has taken another step in his battle by asking Gov. Mario M. Cuomo to put a moratorium on any spending by the Insurance Department related to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Velella also asked the Governor to support a bill, S. 6648, which he introduced several weeks ago to give the state retaliatory powers in the event domestic insurance companies are called upon to pay penalties or expenses because N.Y. is not on the list of NAIC accredited states.

In his letter to Gov. Cuomo dated March 2, Velella said that no taxpayers dollars should be spent on the NAIC since the group no longer officially recognizes New York.

When he introduced his bill to provide for retaliation, which would mean that insurance companies doing business in New York but domiciled in a state which penalizes New York companies, would be required to undergo similar penalties.

Velella said, in introducing his retaliation bill, that it was designed to protect New York insurers when the NAIC accreditation program began to be enforced possibly resulting in serious financial and regulatory burdens to them.

While the NAIC's accreditation program was originally intended to make more uniform the way states regulate their insurance industries, Velella said in a statement accompanying introduction of S. 6648, that NAIC by its mandated position, has usurped the right of state legislatures to deliberate on legislation.

Velella will appear on a panel April 8 in Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of a program sponsored by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL). Also on the panel, which will debate the NAIC accreditation program and legislative prerogatives, will be David Counts, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, David J. Walsh, NAIC president and Insurance Commissioner of Alaska and David J. Lyons, Insurance Commissioner of Iowa. (A news story on the meeting appears on this page -ed.).

At one time New York had been an accredited state but NAIC came up with additional model Iaws which Velella has not permitted to get through before the deadline set by the regulators' association. Because of that. New York's accreditation was suspended.

Velella said in a March 3 statement that nearly $1 million in taxpayer funds has been spent...