I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2609 

To establish an Office of Insurance Information in the Department of the 

Treasury. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. KANJORSKI (for himself, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. 

CAPUANO, Ms. BEAN, Mr. ROYCE, and Mr. SCOTT of Georgia) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To establish an Office of Insurance Information in the 

Department of the Treasury. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Insurance Information 

5 Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF INSURANCE INFORMATION. 

7 (a) DUTIES OF SECRETARY.—Section 321(a) of title 

8 31, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

2 end; 

3 (2) in paragraph (8)(C), by striking the period 

4 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

6 paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(9) serve as the principal advisor to the Presi8 dent and the Congress on domestic and international 

9 policy issues in connection with all lines of insurance 

10 except health insurance.’’. 

11 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.—Subchapter I of 

12 chapter 3 of title 31, United States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) by transferring and inserting section 312 

14 after section 313; 

15 (2) by redesignating sections 313 and 312 (as 

16 so transferred) as sections 312 and 314, respec17 tively; and 

18 (3) by inserting after section 312 (as so redes19 ignated) the following new section: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 313. OFFICE OF INSURANCE INFORMATION. 

21 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 

22 the Department of the Treasury the Office of Insurance 

23 Information. 

24 ‘‘(b) LEADERSHIP.—The Office shall be headed by a 

25 Director, who shall be appointed by the Secretary of the 


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1 Treasury. The position of such Director shall be a career 

2 reserved position in the Senior Executive Service. 

3 ‘‘(c) FUNCTIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY PURSUANT TO DIRECTION OF

5 SECRETARY.—The Office shall have the authority, 

6 pursuant to the direction of the Secretary, as fol7 lows: 

8 ‘‘(A) To receive and collect (directly from 

9 the States and from other sources), and to ana10 lyze and disseminate, data and information, and 

11 to issue reports, regarding all lines of insurance 

12 except health insurance, except that— 

13 ‘‘(i) the submission of any non-pub14 licly available data and information to the 

15 Office shall be voluntary and such submis16 sion shall not constitute a waiver of, or 

17 otherwise affect, any privilege or confiden18 tiality protection to which the data or in19 formation is otherwise subject; 

20 ‘‘(ii) to the extent that any such data 

21 and information has already been received 

22 or collected by, or can efficiently be re23 ceived or collected by, the States (including 

24 the insurance commissioners of the 

25 States), the National Association of InsurVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:56 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 ance Commissioners, or any other appro2 priate source, the Office may enter into an 

3 information-sharing agreement with such 

4 source to provide for the receipt of such 

5 data by the Office; 

6 ‘‘(iii) any requirement under Federal 

7 or State law to the extent otherwise appli8 cable, or any requirement pursuant to a 

9 written agreement in effect between the 

10 original source of any non-publicly avail11 able data or information and the source of 

12 such data or information to the Office, re13 garding the privacy or confidentiality of 

14 any data or information in the possession 

15 of the source to the Office, and any privi16 lege arising under Federal or State law 

17 (including the rules of any Federal or 

18 State court) with respect to such data or 

19 information, shall continue to apply to 

20 such data or information after the data or 

21 information has been provided pursuant to 

22 this subparagraph to the Office; 

23 ‘‘(iv) the Office shall treat as con24 fidential and privileged any data or infor25 mation obtained from any source that is 


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1 entitled to confidential treatment under ap2 plicable State or Federal law or regula3 tions, or under any agreement to which the 

4 source is a party and shall take all reason5 able steps to oppose any effort to secure 

6 disclosure of the data or information by 

7 the Office; 

8 ‘‘(v) the Office may not in any case 

9 disclose to any party any personally identi10 fiable information received or collected by 

11 the Office pursuant to this subparagraph; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(vi) any non-publicly available data 

14 and information received or collected by 

15 the Office pursuant to this subparagraph 

16 shall be considered trade secrets and com17 mercial or financial information that is 

18 privileged and confidential pursuant to sec19 tion 552(b)(4) of title 5, United States 

20 Code, and may not be disclosed to the Ad21 visory Group established under subsection 

22 (l). 

23 ‘‘(B) To coordinate Federal efforts and es24 tablish Federal policy on international insurVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:56 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 ance matters, including working with the Inter2 national Association of Insurance Supervisors. 

3 ‘‘(C) To determine, in accordance with 

4 subsection (e), whether State insurance meas5 ures are inconsistent with such policy, as in6 cluded in covered agreements (as such term is 

7 defined in subsection (m)). 

8 ‘‘(D) To serve as a liaison between the 

9 Federal Government and the individual and sev10 eral States regarding insurance matters of na11 tional importance and international importance. 

12 ‘‘(E) To serve as a primary advisor, re13 garding the export promotion of United States 

14 insurance products and services, to the Treas15 ury representative to the Trade Promotion Co16 ordinating Committee. 

17 ‘‘(2) ADVISORY FUNCTIONS.—To advise the 

18 Secretary on major domestic and international in19 surance policy issues, including matters that affect 

20 consumers and insurers, such as, and including, fi21 nancial guarantee insurance, catastrophe insurance, 

22 and reinsurance requirements. 

23 ‘‘(d) SCOPE.—The authority of the Office and the Di24 rector with respect to insurance shall extend to all lines 

25 of insurance except health insurance, as determined by the 


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1 Secretary based on section 2791 of the Public Health 

2 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–91). 

3 ‘‘(e) PREEMPTION OF STATE INSURANCE MEAS4 URES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) STANDARD.—Subject to paragraph (3), a 

6 State insurance measure shall be preempted if, and 

7 only to the extent that, the measure— 

8 ‘‘(A) treats a non-United States insurer 

9 more or less favorably than a United States in10 surer domiciled in such State; and 

11 ‘‘(B) is determined, in accordance with this 

12 subsection, to be inconsistent with Federal pol13 icy on international insurance matters as— 

14 ‘‘(i) established by the Office; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) included in a covered agreement. 

16 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION.— 

17 ‘‘(A) AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR.—Pursu18 ant to the subsection (c)(1)(C), the Director 

19 may determine whether inconsistencies referred 

20 to in paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection exist. 

21 ‘‘(B) NOTICE OF POTENTIAL INCONSIST22 ENCY.—Before making any determination re23 garding whether an inconsistency referred to in 

24 paragraph (1)(B) exists, the Director shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) cause to be published in the Fed2 eral Register notice of the issue regarding 

3 the potential inconsistency or preemption, 

4 including a description of each State insur5 ance measure at issue and the Federal pol6 icy on international insurance matters em7 bodied in a covered agreement at issue; 

8 ‘‘(ii) provide interested parties a pe9 riod of not less than 30 days during which 

10 to submit written comments to the Office; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(iii) in making the determination, 

13 consider any comments received. 

14 ‘‘(C) INITIAL DETERMINATION.—Upon 

15 making any determination regarding whether 

16 an inconsistency referred to in paragraph 

17 (1)(B) exists, the Director shall— 

18 ‘‘(i) cause to be published in the Fed19 eral Register notice of such determination; 

20 ‘‘(ii) notify the appropriate State of 

21 such determination; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) in the case of determination that 

23 such an inconsistency exists, establish a 

24 reasonable period of time before a final deVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:56 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 termination under subparagraph (D) is 

2 made. 

3 ‘‘(D) FINAL DETERMINATION.—In the case 

4 of an initial determination that an inconsistency 

5 referred to in paragraph (1)(B) exists, upon the 

6 conclusion of the period referred to in subpara7 graph (C)(iii) of this paragraph with respect to 

8 such determination, the Director shall make a 

9 final determination of whether such inconsist10 ency still exists. If the Director determines that 

11 such inconsistency still exists, the Director shall 

12 cause to be published in the Federal Register 

13 notice of such final determination and notify 

14 the State and the Secretary of such final deter15 mination. 

16 ‘‘(E) CONSIDERATION OF STAY BY SEC17 RETARY; EFFECTIVE DATE OF PREEMPTION.— 

18 In the case of a final determination under sub19 paragraph (D) that an inconsistency referred to 

20 in paragraph (1)(B) exists, the Secretary, after 

21 consultation with the Director, shall determine 

22 whether to stay preemption under paragraph 

23 (3). Immediately upon such determination, the 

24 Secretary shall cause to be published in the 

25 Federal Register notice of whether the State inVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:56 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 surance measure is preempted pursuant to 

2 paragraph (1), to the extent of the inconsist3 ency, or whether preemption is stayed pursuant 

4 to paragraph (3), and shall submit to the Con5 gress a copy of such notice. Any such preemp6 tion shall be effective upon the expiration of the 

7 90-day period beginning upon the publication of 

8 notice under this subparagraph unless the Con9 gress by its action prevents such effectiveness. 

10 ‘‘(3) STAY.—Notwithstanding any determina11 tion by the Director that an inconsistency referred 

12 to in paragraph (1)(B) exists, the Secretary shall 

13 stay preemption under this subsection, before publi14 cation of notice of preemption under paragraph 

15 (2)(E), if the Secretary determines that— 

16 ‘‘(A) maintaining the State insurance 

17 measure is necessary for prudential reasons, in18 cluding for— 

19 ‘‘(i) the protection of policyholders 

20 and policy claimants; 

21 ‘‘(ii) the maintenance of the safety, 

22 soundness, integrity or financial responsi23 bility of any entity involved in the business 

24 of insurance or insurance operations; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) ensuring the integrity and sta2 bility of the United States financial sys3 tem; 

4 ‘‘(B) preemption will result in any need to 

5 establish a supervisory or regulatory authority 

6 of the Office or the Secretary over any entity 

7 involved in the business of insurance or insur8 ance operations in the United States; or 

9 ‘‘(C) preemption will result in a gap or 

10 void in financial or market conduct regulation 

11 of any entity involved in the business of insur12 ance or insurance operations in the United 

13 States. 

14 ‘‘(4) ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.—Any State 

15 having an insurance measure for which a final deter16 mination is made pursuant to paragraph (2)(D) that 

17 an inconsistency referred to in paragraph (1)(B) ex18 ists, and any other person aggrieved by such final 

19 determination, shall have the right to appeal such 

20 final determination of inconsistency to the Secretary, 

21 but only if the Secretary receives notice of such ap22 peal before publication of notice of preemption under 

23 paragraph (2)(E). The Secretary shall issue a deci24 sion concerning any such appeal before considering 

25 whether to stay preemption under paragraph (3). 


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1 ‘‘(5) APPLICABILITY OF ADMINISTRATIVE PRO2 CEDURES ACT.—Determinations of inconsistency 

3 pursuant to paragraph (2)(D) and of preemption 

4 pursuant to paragraph (2)(E) shall be subject to the 

5 applicable provisions of subchapter II of chapter 5 of 

6 title 5, United States Code (relating to administra7 tive procedure), and chapter 7 of such title (relating 

8 to judicial review). 

9 ‘‘(6) LIMITATION.—No State may enforce a 

10 State insurance measure to the extent that it has 

11 been preempted pursuant to this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(7) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—The Sec13 retary may, by publication in the Federal Register, 

14 issue policies and procedures to implement this sub15 section and subsection (c)(1)(C). 

16 ‘‘(f) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.—Nothing in this section 

17 shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) preempt any State insurance measure be19 cause of inconsistency with any agreement that is 

20 not a covered agreement (as such term in defined in 

21 subsection (m)); 

22 ‘‘(2) preempt any State insurance measure that 

23 relates to an insurer’s rates, premiums, underwriting 

24 practices, or coverage requirements for insurance 

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1 trust laws of any State to the business of insurance; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(3) affect the preemption of any State insur4 ance measure otherwise inconsistent with and pre5 empted by Federal law. 

6 ‘‘(g) CONSULTATION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) DIRECTOR.—The Director shall consult 

8 with the Advisory Group established under sub9 section (l) regarding— 

10 ‘‘(A) any agreement described in sub11 section (e)(1)(B), before such agreement is en12 tered into; and 

13 ‘‘(B) any initial or final determination 

14 under subsection (e)(2) of whether an inconsist15 ency referred to in subsection (e)(1)(B) exists. 

16 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall consult 

17 with the Advisory Group established under sub18 section (l) regarding whether or not to stay preemp19 tion under subsection (e)(3). 

20 ‘‘(h) COORDINATION REGARDING COVERED AGREE21 MENTS.—Before entering into any covered agreement, the 

22 United States or its representative shall coordinate with 

23 State insurance regulators as designated by the National 

24 Association of Insurance Commissioners to identify provi25 sions in the covered agreement that provide for the recVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:56 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 ognition of prudential measures with respect to the busi2 ness of insurance that are described in subsection 

3 (m)(1)(B). 

4 ‘‘(i) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) BIENNIAL REPORTS.—The Director, in 

6 consultation with the insurance commissioners or su7 pervisors of the States, shall submit a report during 

8 each Congress to the Committee on Financial Serv9 ices of the House of Representatives and the Com10 mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 

11 the Senate on the financial state of the insurance in12 dustry, meaningful trends in the industry, any ac13 tions taken by the Office pursuant to subsection (e) 

14 (regarding preemption of inconsistent State insur15 ance measures), and any other information as 

16 deemed relevant by the Director or as requested by 

17 such Committees. 

18 ‘‘(2) REPORTS ON STATE INSURANCE MEAS19 URES NOT PREEMPTED.—The Director shall submit 

20 a report to each of the Committees referred to in 

21 paragraph (1) of this subsection regarding any State 

22 insurance measure that would have been preempted 

23 but for any stay of preemption under subsection 

24 (e)(3). 


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1 ‘‘(3) OTHER REPORTS.—The Director shall sub2 mit such other informal reports as the Director con3 siders necessary or as are requested by the Con4 gress. 

5 ‘‘(j) USE OF EXISTING RESOURCES.—The Office 

6 may employ personnel, facilities, and other Department of 

7 the Treasury resources available to the Secretary on the 

8 date of enactment of the Insurance Information Act of 

9 2009 in carrying out this section, except as otherwise pro10 hibited by law. 

11 ‘‘(k) RETENTION OF EXISTING REGULATORY AU12 THORITY.—Nothing in this section may be construed to 

13 establish a general supervisory or regulatory authority of 

14 the Office or the Department of the Treasury over the 

15 business of insurance. 

16 ‘‘(l) ADVISORY GROUP.— 

17 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby estab18 lished the Advisory Group to the Office of Insurance 

19 Information (in this subsection referred to as the 

20 ‘Advisory Group’). 

21 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Advisory Group shall 

22 consist of no more than 13 members who shall be 

23 appointed by the Secretary, and shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) State insurance commissioners or su2 pervisors, as nominated by the National Asso3 ciation of Insurance Commissioners; 

4 ‘‘(B) a representative each of— 

5 ‘‘(i) State legislators, as nominated by 

6 the National Conference of State Legisla7 tures; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the Department of Commerce; 

9 ‘‘(iii) the Federal Trade Commission; 

10 ‘‘(iv) the Office of the United States 

11 Trade Representative; 

12 ‘‘(v) the life insurance industry; 

13 ‘‘(vi) the property and casualty insur14 ance industry; 

15 ‘‘(vii) the reinsurance industry; and 

16 ‘‘(viii) the insurance producer indus17 try; and 

18 ‘‘(C) such other representatives of the in19 surance industry, consumer groups, and other 

20 organizations as the Secretary determines are 

21 appropriate. 

22 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The sole functions of the Advi23 sory Group shall be to make recommendations to the 

24 Secretary and the Director regarding the function of 

25 the Office under subsection (c)(1)(B) and to consult 


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1 with the Director and the Secretary pursuant to 

2 subsection (g). 

3 ‘‘(m) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, 

4 the following definitions shall apply: 

5 ‘‘(1) COVERED AGREEMENT.—The term ‘cov6 ered agreement’ means a written bilateral or multi7 lateral recognition agreement that— 

8 ‘‘(A) is entered into— 

9 ‘‘(i) between the United States and 

10 one or more foreign governments, authori11 ties, or regulatory entities; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) after the date of the enactment 

13 of the Insurance Information Act of 2009; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(B) provides for recognition of prudential 

16 measures with respect to the business of insur17 ance that— 

18 ‘‘(i) adequately protect insurance con19 sumers in the United States; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) are substantially equivalent to 

21 the regulation by the States of the com22 parable subject matter. 

23 ‘‘(2) NON-UNITED STATES INSURER.—The term 

24 ‘non-United States insurer’ means an insurer, or re25 insurer, that is organized under the laws of a jurisVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:56 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2609.IH H2609

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1 diction other than a State, but does not include any 

2 United States branch of such an insurer. 

3 ‘‘(3) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of4 fice of Insurance Information established by this sec5 tion. 

6 ‘‘(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

7 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

8 ‘‘(5) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means any of 

9 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com10 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin 

11 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Trust Terri12 tory of the Pacific Islands, the Commonwealth of the 

13 Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory 

14 of the United States. 

15 ‘‘(6) STATE INSURANCE MEASURE.—The term 

16 ‘State insurance measure’ means any State law, reg17 ulation, administrative ruling, bulletin, guideline, or 

18 practice relating to or affecting the provision of in19 surance or reinsurance. 

20 ‘‘(7) UNITED STATES INSURER.—The term 

21 ‘United States insurer’ means— 

22 ‘‘(A) an insurer, or reinsurer, that is orga23 nized under the laws of a State; or 

24 ‘‘(B) a United States branch of a non25 United States insurer. 


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1 ‘‘(n) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this section 

2 shall be construed to affect the development and coordina3 tion of United States international trade policy or the ad4 ministration of the United States trade agreements pro5 gram. 

6 ‘‘(o) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 are authorized to be appropriated for the Office such sums 

8 as may be necessary for each fiscal year.’’. 

9 (c) INDEPENDENCE IN CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

10 AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—Section 111 of Public Law 

11 93–495 (12 U.S.C. 250) is amended by inserting ‘‘the Di12 rector of the Office of Insurance Information of the De13 partment of the Treasury,’’ after ‘‘Office of Thrift Super14 vision,’’. 

15 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

16 for subchapter I of chapter 3 of title 31, United States 

17 Code, is amended by striking the item relating to section 

18 312 and inserting the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 312. Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. 

‘‘Sec. 313. Office of Insurance Information. 

‘‘Sec. 314. Continuing in office.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS. 

20 (a) NON-SEVERABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS .— 

21 If any provision of subsection (e) or (h) of section 313 

22 of title 31, United States Code, as added by this Act, is 

23 declared or held invalid or unenforceable by any United 

24 States court, all provisions of each such subsection shall 


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1 be treated and deemed invalid and shall have no force or 

2 effect of law. 

3 (b) SEVERABILITY OF REMAINDER.—Notwith4 standing the invalidation of subsections (e) and (h) of sec5 tion 313 of title 31, United States Code, as added by this 

6 Act, under subsection (a) of this section, the validity of 

7 the remainder of such section 313, and of the application 

8 of such provisions to other persons and circumstances, 

9 shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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