[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3129 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3129

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 2003

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 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.
                                 <all>