Insurance
Largely lost in Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson's plan to remake financial industry regulations was and effort to create a federal super-regulator for insurers. More here.
If you think this might trouble North Carolina's state insurance regulator, you'd be right.
"It could be a real mess," said N.C. Insurance Commissioner Jim Long, who said that the federal government would have to hire thousands of workers to do the same job that state agencies do now.
"If you keep it on the state level, when I mess up, you're right next door to me. You can come over and say, 'Jim Long, what did you do?'"
Long acknowledges there were problems for companies getting certified by 50 different regulators and points to a relatively new Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission that helps streamline the process for 31 states, including North Carolina.
Also, Long argues that North Carolina's special mechanisms to take care of things like beachfront property aren't relevant to those who live in Kansas, and Kansas' concern about tornadoes probably doesn't translate to California property owners.
"The good news is it (the Paulson proposal) is not going anywhere right now," Long said. That's because it's an election year and, well, stirring that much soup while the cooks want to go home and win votes isn't feasible.
Long said that he'll be turning his attention to the legislature before too soon. In particular, he is watching an effort that would restrict his ability to control the state's auto-insurance rates.
"They pushed for that like crazy," Long said of the auto insurers. "And they're going to be pushing again, no doubt about that."
Background on that here (from political connections) and here (from the AP).
Comments (1)
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Mark - Our situation here in NC is not like 2001 when things were so bad. One, we haven't gone on a on a reckless tax-cutting spree like they did in the 1990's. Two, we have replenished our rainy day fund - it was depleted by hurricane Floyd just prior to the last recession. Three, the bubble that burst our revenue forecast then was capital gains from the tech bubble - the current bubble is a housing one that hasn't hit NC as hard. We should be able to both "live within our means" (we have no choice since we can't run a deficit like the feds) and deal with cyclical spending (like spiking community college and medicaid enrollment). The next few years won't be fun for state lawmakers but they won't be a repeat of the early 2000's either.
Posted on April 1, 2008 5:13 PM