The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-08-17
INSURANCE LAWS
WILL BE CHANGED
COMMISSIONER WILL BE HELD
TO CLOSER ACCOUNT.
Explanation Of the Interesting Ques-
ton Of the Origin of the Law Which
Fails to Exact Payment 70 the State.
Of Fees Collected Amendment Ger
tain.

Members Of the recent legislatures
have awakened to considerable inter-
est in the insurance commissioners Of
fee, since the revelation showing the |
large amount of fees collected and not
turned into the state treasury. 1t is
absolutely certain that this featured
will be stricken out of the insurance
laws next winter, but the question is,
how did it get there in the first place?
The fees in question are collected
from life insurance companies for eN-
aiming their books and valuing their
policies They have been collected
ever since 1872, but as the law was
paid into the state treasury. Since
that time the act has been amended
by easy stages, so that now there APP
pears to be no requirement binding
the commissioner to turn the fees over.
The progression as shown by the
statute books is interesting. The.
original law was Chapter 1, Title 2,
General Laws Of 1872, being section ion
3153 of the Revised Statutes of 1894.
This enumerates the fees to be paid
by insurance companies, including the
following:
For yaluing policies of life insur-
ance companies,s$10 per million of in
| surance or any fraction thereof
The same act provides that all fees
1
commissioner under the provisions Of
this act shall be paid over to the state
treasurer, accompanied by a statement
lin detail on the last weekday Of
/ every month. =
The First Change.
The first change came with the in
surance code Of 1895. Sectlon 10
i enumerates the fees to be paid into
the state treasury, and this does not
! Include the fee for valuing policies.
Section SO reads as follows:
| Every life insurance company dong
business in this state shall annually pay
to the actuary valuing the same, as COM
pensation for the valuation Of its poll
cies, 1 cent on every thousand dollars IN
sured by it on lives.
1 This does not mention the insurance
commissioner nor say how the actu-
" airy is to be selected, but it is under
stood that since the passage of this act
actuaries have been designated by the
insurance commissioner to do the
work, and while the companies. have
4 paid the actuary the amount stlpu-
lated by the law, he did not put al
of the amount in his own pocket.
!, Commissioners Wide Latitude.
In 1901, however, the law was
changed again, Section 10 of Chapter
178 reads in part as follows:
AS soon as practicable after the filing o
said annual statement of any company or
+ ganized and doing business under the pro
: visions of this act, in the office OF tn
; insurance commissioner, he shall proceet
/, to ascertain the net cash value of eacl
policy in force on he.31st day of Deem
: Der Immediately preceding, upon the basi
e Of the American experience table Of NOR
; tally and 4 per cent interest, or combine'
= experience table and sameI rate sof in
! terest:: For the purpose Of making sue
: valuation the insurance Commissioners ma.
: employ competent actuary to do tn
$ same, who shall be paid by the compan
n for which the services are rendered at tn
It rate of not to exceed 1 per cent per thou
sand dollars of insurance so valued; bu
! nothing herein shall prevent any compan
e from making said valuation herein con
,, templated, which may be received by tn
g insurance commissioner upon such proc
3 as he may determine.
= This act puts the entire matter i
e the hands of the insurance commits
); sioner, who since that time has col
. lected $4,000 according to his repol
,r to Governor Van SAINT. It is plai
from reading the law that he has am
IL pie latitude, and that if he does nc
Il choose to make the examination, h
may accept the company's own state
IN ment along with such proof as h
al may require He is not required
% make any accounting Of these fees.