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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2733 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2733

 To clarify the exemption for certain annuity contracts and insurance 
   policies from Federal regulation under the Securities Act of 1933.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 4, 2009

Mr. Meeks of New York (for himself, Mr. Price of Georgia, Mr. Cleaver, 
   Mr. Paul, Mr. Boswell, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Clay, Mr. Kline of 
   Minnesota, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Latham, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Sessions, Mr. 
LaTourette, Mr. Driehaus, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Kind, Mr. 
 Wilson of Ohio, Ms. Jenkins, Mr. Culberson, Mr. Welch, and Ms. Fudge) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To clarify the exemption for certain annuity contracts and insurance 
   policies from Federal regulation under the Securities Act of 1933.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fixed Indexed Annuities and 
Insurance Products Classification Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Primary jurisdiction for regulating life insurance and 
        annuities is vested with the States and Territories of the 
        United States and the District of Columbia.
            (2) Indexed insurance and annuity products offered by 
        insurance companies are subject to a wide array of laws and 
        regulations enforced by States and applicable jurisdictions, 
        including nonforfeiture requirements that provide for minimum 
        guaranteed values, thereby protecting consumers against market 
        related losses.
            (3) Adoption of Rule 151A by the Securities and Exchange 
        Commission, entitled ``Indexed Annuities and Certain Other 
        Insurance Products'', 74 Fed. Reg. 3138 (January 16, 2009), 
        interferes with State insurance regulation, harms the insurance 
        industry, reduces competition, restricts consumer choice, 
        creates unnecessary and excessive regulatory burdens, and 
        diverts Commission resources, all of which outweighs any 
        perceived benefits.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to nullify rule 151A and 
clarify the scope of the exemption for annuities and insurance 
contracts from Federal regulation under the Securities Act of 1933.

SEC. 3. SCOPE OF EXEMPTION FROM FEDERAL SECURITIES REGULATION.

    Section 3(a)(8) of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77c 
(a)(8)) is amended by inserting before the semicolon the following: ``, 
and any insurance or endowment policy or annuity contract or optional 
annuity contract (A) the value of which does not vary according to the 
performance of a separate account, and (B) which satisfies standard 
nonforfeiture laws or similar requirements of the applicable State, 
Territory, or District of Columbia at time of issue, or in the absence 
of applicable standard nonforfeiture laws or requirements, satisfies 
the Model Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance or Model 
Standard Nonforfeiture Law for Individual Deferred Annuities, or any 
successor model law, as published by the National Association of 
Insurance Commissioners.''.

SEC. 4. NULLIFICATION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL SECURITIES REGULATIONS.

    Rule 151A promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and 
entitled ``Indexed Annuities and Certain Other Insurance Contracts'', 
74 Fed. Reg. 3138 (January 16, 2009), shall have no force or effect.
                                 <all>
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