BILL REQ. #:  S-2256.1 

Read first time 04/04/2005.   Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions, Housing & Consumer Protection.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE WASHINGTON STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION, AND TO THE CHAIRPERSONS OF THE RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS, AND TO THE FIVE NAIC MEMBER STATES ON ICHEIC, AND TO THE MEMBERS OF THE NAIC INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST COMMISSION TASK FORCE, AND TO THE SPECIAL ENVOY FOR HOLOCAUST ISSUES OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE, AND TO THE CHAIRMAN OF ICHEIC:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The International Commission of Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) was established in 1998 by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), six European insurance companies, several Jewish organizations, and the government of Israel to create "a just process that will expeditiously address the issue of unpaid insurance policies issued to victims of the Holocaust"; and
     WHEREAS, ICHEIC has received over eighty thousand eligible claims worldwide; and
     WHEREAS, ICHEIC is scheduled to complete the processing of all claims by December 2005, with all appeals to be concluded by the middle of 2006; and
     WHEREAS, With a majority of all claims still reported by ICHEIC as unresolved, much of ICHEIC's work remains undone; and
     WHEREAS, In 1999, the Washington Legislature unanimously passed the Holocaust Victims Insurance Relief Act thereby establishing the Washington State Holocaust Survivors Assistance Office in the Office of the Insurance Commissioner; and
     WHEREAS, One hundred ninety-five Washington State residents have filed seven hundred sixty-two Holocaust-era insurance claims with ICHEIC through the Washington State Holocaust Survivors Assistance Office; and
     WHEREAS, To date, nineteen Washington claimants have received offers on thirty-one claims, and an additional fifty-two claimants have received humanitarian fund payments; and
     WHEREAS, The Washington State Insurance Commissioner holds a seat on the International Holocaust Task Force of the NAIC; and
     WHEREAS, In October 2004, the Washington State Holocaust Survivors Assistance Office issued an updated status report on the Holocaust insurance settlement process focusing on the performance of ICHEIC itself in overseeing and managing the claims process; and
     WHEREAS, The Office of the Insurance Commissioner's report concluded that, despite measurable progress in resolving some claims, significant unresolved problems continue to plague the process, including missing claims, disqualified claims, and claims that will never be fully investigated by ICHEIC; and
     WHEREAS, The Office of the Insurance Commissioner has recommended that an independent performance audit of ICHEIC be conducted to determine the extent to which ICHEIC has correctly implemented its own policies and procedures and is meeting its mandate in a fair, credible, transparent, and accountable fashion; and
     WHEREAS, In the absence of formal oversight by any judicial, legislative, or other governmental body, it is both prudent and responsible that a complex claims settlement process such as that administered by ICHEIC should be subjected to an independent performance audit; and
     WHEREAS, Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has called upon his fellow United States Insurance Commissioners to support his recommendation for a performance audit of ICHEIC as consistent with their roles as original signatories of the agreement creating ICHEIC; and
     WHEREAS, The Government Reform Committee of the United States House of Representatives has three times held public hearings on the status and performance of ICHEIC, and identified improvements to the process to ensure that ICHEIC is accountable to its stakeholders; and
     WHEREAS, The Washington State Legislature supports Insurance Commissioner Kreidler in his call for a performance audit of ICHEIC as consistent with the original purpose of the Holocaust Victims Insurance Relief Act of 1999;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the International Commission on Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims authorize and support an independent audit of its performance; and
     Your Memorialists further pray that appropriate committees of the United States Congress review the status of the Holocaust insurance claims process, and support, in consultation with the United States Department of State, appropriate legislative and nonlegislative remedies to expedite unresolved claims, including an independent performance audit of ICHEIC; and
     Your Memorialists further pray that other state legislatures will join our call and urge their states' Insurance Commissioners to support Commissioner Kreidler's call for an audit of ICHEIC; and
     Your Memorialists further pray that the Washington State Insurance Commissioner utilize his position on the NAIC International Holocaust Commission Task Force to further the intent of this Memorial.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Washington State Congressional Delegation, the Chairpersons of the relevant Committees of the United States Congress, the five NAIC member states on ICHEIC, the members of the NAIC International Holocaust Commission Task Force, the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues of the United States Department of State, and the Chairman of ICHEIC, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.