To permit States to require insurance companies to disclose Holocaust-era insurance information.

September 17, 2003

Mr. SCHIFF introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

To permit States to require insurance companies to disclose Holocaust-era insurance information.

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 `Holocaust Victims Insurance Fairness Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) The Holocaust occurred between 1933 and 1945 and involved the systematic, bureaucratic, and State-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

(2) Before and during this period of time, millions of European Jews purchased life insurance policies from certain European insurance companies as a form of savings and investment.

(3) After World War II, insurance companies rejected many claims presented by Holocaust survivors or heirs of Holocaust victims because the claimants lacked the requisite documentation, such as death certificates, that had been confiscated by the Nazi regime.

(4) Since the end of the war several years ago, only a small fraction of Holocaust victims and their families have been able to collect on their policies.

(5) In 1998, the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) was established to address the issue of unpaid insurance policies and to expedite payouts to Holocaust victims.

(6) To date, companies holding Holocaust-era insurance policies continue to withhold names on thousands of policies and more than 80 percent of claims applications filed with the ICHEIC remain unresolved due to the inability of claimants to identify the company holding the policy.

(7) States should be allowed to collect Holocaust-era insurance information from foreign-based insurance companies that want to do business in the State.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR STATES TO REQUIRE DISCLOSURE OF HOLOCAUST-ERA INSURANCE INFORMATION.

(a) IN GENERAL- Any State may implement a law that--

(1) requires insurance companies conducting business in the State to disclose (and to make publicly available) details regarding some or all covered policies described in subsection (b)(1) that were issued by that company or by any related company; and

(2) provides for appropriate penalties and sanctions for noncompliance.

(b) DEFINITIONS- For purposes of this section:

(1) COVERED POLICY- A covered policy described in this paragraph is a property, liability, health, annuity, dowry, educational, or casualty insurance policy that was issued to a policyholder domiciled in the area of the European Continent that was occupied or controlled by Nazi Germany or by any ally or sympathizer of Nazi Germany and that was in effect at any time during the period between 1933 and 1945.

(2) RELATED COMPANY- The term `related company' includes, with respect to an insurance company, any parent, subsidiary, reinsurer, successor in interest, managing general agent, or affiliate company, whether or not the company was related during the time when a covered policy was sold.

(c) CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL- Any Executive branch policy or agreement that preempts State efforts to collect Holocaust-era insurance information to resolve outstanding claims is explicitly disapproved by the Congress.

END