I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4596 
To allow for enforcement of State disclosure laws and access to courts for 
covered Holocaust-era insurance policy claims. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2010 
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Mr. PENCE, Mr. 
GARAMENDI, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. LINCOLN 
DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. MEEK of Florida, 
Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. KIRK) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To allow for enforcement of State disclosure laws and access 
to courts for covered Holocaust-era insurance policy claims. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Insurance 
Accountability Act of 2010’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The Holocaust, an event in which millions 
of people endured enormous suffering through tor-
ture and other violence, including the murder of 
6,000,000 Jews and millions of others, the destruc-
tion of families and communities, and the theft of 
their assets, was one of the most heinous crimes in 
human history. 
(2) Before and during World War II, millions 
of people purchased insurance policies to safeguard 
family assets, plan for retirement, provide for a 
dowry, or save for their children’s education. 
(3) When Holocaust survivors or heirs of Holo-
caust victims presented claims to insurance compa-
nies after World War II, many were rejected because 
they did not have death certificates or physical pos-
session of policy documents that had been con-
fiscated by the Nazis or lost in the devastation of 
the Holocaust. 
(4) In many instances, insurance company 
records and records in government archives are the 
only proof of the existence of insurance policies be-
longing to Holocaust victims. 
(5) Holocaust survivors and heirs have been at-
tempting for decades to persuade insurance compa-
nies to settle unpaid insurance claims. 
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(6) In 1998, the International Commission on 
Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (in this section re-
ferred to as ‘‘ICHEIC’’) was established by the Na-
tional Association of Insurance Commissioners in co-
operation with several European insurance compa-
nies, European regulators, the Government of Israel, 
and non-governmental organizations with the prom-
ise that it would expeditiously address the issue of 
unpaid insurance policies issued to Holocaust vic-
tims. 
(7) On July 17, 2000, the United States and 
Germany signed an executive agreement in support 
of the German Foundation ‘‘Remembrance, Respon-
sibility, and the Future’’, which designated ICHEIC 
to resolve all Holocaust-era insurance policies issued 
by German companies and their subsidiaries. 
(8) On January 17, 2001, the United States 
and Austria signed an executive agreement, which 
designated ICHEIC to resolve all Holocaust-era in-
surance policies issued by Austrian companies and 
their subsidiaries. 
(9) The ICHEIC process ended in 2007 and 
companies holding Holocaust-era insurance policies 
continue to withhold names of owners and bene-
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ficiaries of thousands of insurance policies sold to 
Jewish customers prior to World War II. 
(10) Experts estimate that only a small fraction 
of the policies estimated to have been sold to Jews 
living in Europe at the beginning of World War II 
have been paid through ICHEIC. 
(11) In American Insurance Association, Inc., 
v. Garamendi, the United States Supreme Court 
held that under the supremacy clause of the Con-
stitution of the United States, executive agreements 
and Federal Government policy calling for insurance 
claims against German and Austrian companies to 
be handled within ICHEIC preempted State laws 
authorizing State insurance commissioners to sub-
poena company records and require publication of 
the names of Holocaust era policy holders. 
(12) In the Garamendi case, the Supreme 
Court stated that Congress, which has the power to 
regulate international commerce and prescribe Fed-
eral court jurisdiction, had not addressed disclosure 
and restitution of insurance policies of Holocaust 
victims. 
(13) Subsequent court decisions have dismissed 
survivors’ suits against an Italian insurance com-
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pany, even though there is no executive agreement 
between the United States and Italy. 
(14) Congress supports the rights of Holocaust 
survivors and the heirs and beneficiaries of Holo-
caust victims to obtain information from insurers 
and to bring legal actions in courts, wherever juris-
diction requirements are met, to recover unpaid 
funds from entities that participated in the theft of 
family insurance assets or the affiliates of such enti-
ties. 
(15) Congress intends for this Act to be inter-
preted to allow for State causes of action and disclo-
sure requirement laws regarding Holocaust-era in-
surance policies to be valid and not preempted. 
(16) This Act expresses the intent of Congress 
to deem valid State laws protecting the rights of 
Holocaust survivors and the heirs and beneficiaries 
of Holocaust victims to obtain information from in-
surers and to bring actions in courts of proper juris-
diction to recover unpaid funds from entities that 
participated in the theft of family insurance assets 
or the affiliates of such entities. 
(17) Insurance payments should be expedited to 
the victims of the most heinous crime of the 20th 
century to ensure that justice is served. 
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(18) This Act will enable survivors, heirs, and 
beneficiaries to obtain compensation commensurate 
with the real monetary value of their losses. 
(19) Under the circumstances faced by Holo-
caust victims and their families, courts should be 
open to Holocaust victims and their families for a 
reasonable number of years after the enactment of 
this Act, without regard to any other statutes of lim-
itation. 
SEC. 3. VALIDITY OF STATE LAWS. 
(a) VALIDITY OF LAWS CREATING CAUSE OF AC-
TION.—Any State law creating a cause of action against 
any insurer or related company based on a claim arising 
out of or related to a covered policy shall not be invalid 
or preempted by reason of any executive agreement be-
tween the United States and any foreign country. 
(b) VALIDITY OF LAWS REQUIRING DISCLOSURE OF 
INFORMATION.—Any State law that is enacted on or after 
March 1, 1998, and that requires an insurer doing busi-
ness in that State, including any related company, to dis-
close information regarding any covered policy shall be 
deemed to be in effect on the date of the enactment of 
such law and shall not be invalid or preempted by reason 
of any executive agreement between the United States and 
any foreign country. 
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(c) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-
tion of subsection (a) or (b) with respect to any executive 
agreement that is entered into between the United States 
and a foreign country on or after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act and that involves covered policies if, not 
later than 30 legislative days before the signing of the ex-
ecutive agreement— 
(1) the President determines that the executive 
agreement is vital to the national security interests 
of the United States; and 
(2) the President provides to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report explaining the 
reasons for such determination. 
(d) STATEMENTS OF INTEREST.—No funds may be 
used by the Department of State, or any other department 
or agency of the United States, for the purpose of issuing 
a statement of interest seeking to encourage a court in 
the United States to dismiss any claim brought to recover 
compensation arising out of or related to a covered policy. 
(e) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—No court may dis-
miss a claim that is brought under a State law described 
in subsection (a) or (b) within 10 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act on the ground that the claim 
is barred under any statute of limitations. 
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SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. 
This Act shall apply to any claim that is brought, 
before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
under a State law described in subsection (a) or (b), in-
cluding— 
(1) any claim dismissed, before the date of the 
enactment of this Act, on the ground of executive 
preemption; and 
(2) any claim that is deemed released as a re-
sult of the settlement of a class action that was en-
tered into before the date of the enactment of this 
Act, if the claimant did not receive any payment 
pursuant to the settlement. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs in 
the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
Foreign Relations in the Senate, and the Commit-
tees on the Judiciary of the House of Representa-
tives and the Senate. 
(2) COVERED POLICY.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered pol-
icy’’ means any life, dowry, education, property, 
or other insurance policy that— 
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(i) was in effect at any time after 
January 30, 1933, and before December 
31, 1945; and 
(ii) was issued to a policyholder domi-
ciled in any area that was occupied or con-
trolled by Nazi Germany. 
(B) NAZI GERMANY.—In this paragraph, 
the term ‘‘Nazi Germany’’ means— 
(i) the Nazi government of Germany; 
and 
(ii) any government in any area occu-
pied by the military forces of the Nazi gov-
ernment of Germany. 
(3) INSURER.—The term ‘‘insurer’’ means any 
person engaged in the business of insurance (includ-
ing reinsurance) in interstate or foreign commerce, 
if the person issued a covered policy, or a successor 
in interest to such person. 
(4) LEGISLATIVE DAYS.—The term ‘‘legislative 
days’’ means those days on which both Houses of 
Congress are in session. 
(5) RELATED
COMPANY.—The term ‘‘related 
company’’ means an affiliate, as that term is defined 
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in section 104(g) of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act 
(15 U.S.C. 6701(g)). 
Æ 
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