Government Affairs Update

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS CORNER Minimal Impact of Legislation

IMPACT OF INSURANCE REGULATION IN THIS PANDEMIC ELECTION YEAR IS MINIMAL.

With the world wide pandemic still raging, the government affairs world is likewise in unchartered waters. Normally the Anchor summer edition article would be about which bills passed and which bills didn’t pass. This year the General Assembly session was on recess from March until June when they had a session to pass a supplemental budget. In July at the time of the writing of this article there are a couple of more sessions planned which will deal with a few bills. The plan is for the General Assembly to reconvene again in August to deal with the state budget. The hope is that the Congress will either pass another stimulus package which would include money to help the states with their budgets or loosen the rules of the earlier package and allow the states to use the money already provided (and not yet spent) on their budgets.

Some of the few bills that look like they’ll be dealt with in a July session are putting Rhode Island’s name change on the November ballot, a firefighter’s

cancer bill, mail ballot legislation, local bond authorization bills and requiring police chiefs from the home town of a gun buyer to be notified. I’m sure when the General Assembly reconvenes in August a few more bills will be added.

At this point the only property and casualty bill that looks like it will pass will be the annual “omnibus” workers compensation legislation that comes from the Workers Compensation Advisory Council. The Council annually reviews different issues and after getting a consensus recommends legislation which is referred to as the “omnibus” bill. The Council is made of 16 members including representatives of labor, business, workers compensation judges, legislators and state department directors. David White of Butler & Messier agency usually attends the meetings to keep us informed of what is going on.

The omnibus bill this year is nothing earth shattering, it deals with the legal process of claims in the uninsured employer fund and the timing of medical reports required for injured workers in the regular claims process.

Legislation that was filed requiring insurers to pay business interruption claims caused by the pandemic doesn’t look like it has any chance of passage as the United States Constitution protects contracts. Similar legislation in about a dozen other states hasn’t gone anywhere either.

In conclusion I’d say that, as usual, there’s more bad bills out there than helpful bills so a year in which nothing passes is not such a bad thing.