[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1746 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1746

    To require disclosure of Holocaust-era policies by insurers and 
establish a federal cause of action for claims arising out of a covered 
                                policy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 28, 2007

 Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Cantor, Mr. Pence, and 
 Mr. Chabot) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on 
Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require disclosure of Holocaust-era policies by insurers and 
establish a federal cause of action for claims arising out of a covered 
                                policy.

    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 Insurance Accountability 
Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Holocaust, an event in which millions of people 
        endured enormous suffering through torture and other violence, 
        including the murder of 6,000,000 Jews and millions of others, 
        the destruction of families and communities, and the theft of 
        their assets, was one of the most heinous crimes in human 
        history.
            (2) Before and during World War II, millions of people 
        purchased insurance policies to safeguard family assets, plan 
        for retirement, provide for a dowry, or save for their 
        children's education.
            (3) When Holocaust survivors or heirs of Holocaust victims 
        presented claims to insurance companies after World War II, 
        many were rejected because they did not have death certificates 
        or physical possession of policy documents that had been 
        confiscated by the Nazis or lost in the devastation of the 
        Holocaust.
            (4) In many instances, insurance company records and 
        records in government archives are the only proof of the 
        existence of insurance policies belonging to Holocaust victims.
            (5) Holocaust survivors and heirs have been attempting for 
        decades to persuade insurance companies to settle unpaid 
        insurance claims.
            (6) In 1998, the International Commission on Holocaust Era 
        Insurance Claims (in this section referred to as the 
        ``ICHEIC'') was established by the National Association of 
        Insurance Commissioners in cooperation with several European 
        insurance companies, European regulators, the Government of 
        Israel, and non-governmental organizations with the promise 
        that it would expeditiously address the issue of unpaid 
        insurance policies issued to Holocaust victims.
            (7) On July 17, 2000, the United States and Germany signed 
        an Executive Agreement in support of the German Foundation 
        ``Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future'', which 
        designated the ICHEIC to resolve all Holocaust-era insurance 
        policies issued by German companies and their subsidiaries.
            (8) On January 17, 2001, the United States and Austria 
        signed an Executive Agreement, which designated the ICHEIC to 
        resolve all Holocaust-era insurance policies issued by Austrian 
        companies and their subsidiaries.
            (9) Between 1998 and the closing of the ICHEIC claims 
        deadline on December 31, 2003, few names of the Jewish policy 
        holders from Eastern Europe were published, though more than 
        two-thirds of the Jewish population of the territory occupied 
        by the Nazis and their allies were from Eastern Europe.
            (10) The ICHEIC is scheduled to close in 2007 without the 
        disclosure of thousands of names of policies sold to Jewish 
        residents of Europe prior to World War II as of February of 
        2007.
            (11) With the ICHEIC process essentially completed, 
        companies holding Holocaust-era insurance policies continue to 
        withhold names of owners and beneficiaries of thousands of 
        insurance policies sold to Jewish customers prior to World War 
        II.
            (12) Experts estimate that the value in 2006 of unpaid 
        life, annuity, endowment, and dowry insurance theft from 
        European Jewry from the Holocaust and its aftermath ranges 
        between $17,000,000,000 and $200,000,000,000.
            (13) As of the latest report by the ICHEIC on February 20, 
        2007, the value of claims paid in recognition of victims' 
        policies was approximately $250,000,000 and fewer than 5 
        percent of the policies estimated to have been sold to Jews at 
        the beginning of World War II have been paid through ICHEIC.
            (14) As of 2006, ICHEIC has not provided the State 
        Department with the information required by paragraphs (3) 
        through (7) of section 704(a) of the Foreign Relations 
        Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228), which 
        requires the Secretary of State to report to the appropriate 
        congressional committees on the status of the implementation of 
        the Executive Agreement between Germany and the United States.
            (15) In American Insurance Association, Inc., v. Garamendi, 
        the United States Supreme Court held that under the supremacy 
        clause of the Constitution of the United States, executive 
        agreements and Federal Government policy calling for insurance 
        claims against German and Austrian companies to be handled 
        within ICHEIC preempted State laws authorizing State insurance 
        commissioners to subpoena company records and require 
        publication of the names of Holocaust era policy holders.
            (16) In the Garamendi case, the Supreme Court stated that 
        Congress, which has the power to regulate international 
        commerce, and prescribe Federal Court jurisdiction, had not 
        addressed disclosure and restitution of Holocaust victims' 
        insurance policies.
            (17) Subsequent court decisions have dismissed survivors' 
        suits against Assicurazioni Generali, S.p.A., even though there 
        is no executive agreement between the United States and Italy.
            (18) Congress believes that United States courts do 
        currently have jurisdiction to entertain actions by Holocaust 
        victims and heirs of Holocaust victims to recover insurance 
        proceeds sold to their families before the Holocaust.
            (19) Due to lower court interpretations of the Garamendi 
        case, this Act expresses the intent of Congress to legislate to 
        the maximum extent allowed by the Constitution regarding the 
        rights of Holocaust survivors and the heirs and beneficiaries 
        of Holocaust victims to obtain information from insurers and to 
        bring actions in United States courts to recover unpaid funds 
        from entities that participated in the theft of family 
        insurance assets or the affiliates of such entities.
            (20) The ICHEIC either chose not to pursue or did not put 
        forth sufficient effort to investigate or obtain restitution 
        for forms of insurance other than life, annuity, endowment, or 
        dowry insurance sold to Holocaust victims, despite 
        documentation that other forms of insurance benefits such as 
        property and casualty insurance, disability insurance, health 
        insurance, transport insurance, and marine insurance were also 
        improperly withheld from Jews, nor did the ICHEIC make 
        sufficient effort to investigate the records of reinsurers who 
        provided coverage for Jews' policies prior to World War II, 
        despite evidence that reinsurers and reinsurance played a 
        significant role in the theft of the family assets of Holocaust 
        victims.
            (21) Disclosures in 2006 concerning the vast Nazi archives 
        at Bad Arolsen Germany, which have been closed to direct access 
        by Holocaust survivors, families of Holocaust victims, and 
        researchers since 1955, underscores the necessity a 
        comprehensive opening of all archival sources of information 
        for Holocaust victims and their families.
            (22) Insurance payments should be expedited to the victims 
        of the most heinous crime of the 20th Century to ensure that 
        justice is served.
            (23) States should be allowed to collect Holocaust-era 
        insurance information from any insurance companies that want to 
        do business in such States.
            (24) Tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors around the 
        world, including in the United States, live below or near the 
        poverty level, and cannot meet their basic day-to-day needs for 
        food, medicine, shelter, and other necessities.
            (25) This Act will enable survivors, heirs, and 
        beneficiaries to obtain compensation commensurate with the real 
        monetary value of their losses, and to penalize unjustly 
        enriched insurers for their fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair 
        practices, which continue to the present day, and to deter such 
        conduct in the future.
            (26) Holocaust victims and their families should be able to 
        recover claims arising from Holocaust era insurance policies 
        and the Federal Government should be able to recover for the 
        unjust enrichment of insurers in Federal court when they 
        consider it necessary to seek redress through the judicial 
        system.
            (27) Under the circumstances faced by Holocaust victims and 
        their families, the courts of the United States should be open 
        to Holocaust victims and their families for a reasonable number 
        of years after enactment of this Act, without regard to any 
        other statutes of limitation.

SEC. 3. HOLOCAUST INSURANCE REGISTRY.

    (a) Establishment and Maintenance.--Chapter 21 of title 44, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 2119. Holocaust Insurance Registry
    ``(a) Establishment.--The Archivist shall establish and maintain a 
collection of records that shall--
            ``(1) consist of the information provided to the Archivist 
        under section 5 of the Holocaust Victims Insurance Relief Act 
        of 2007;
            ``(2) be known as the Holocaust Insurance Registry.
    ``(b) Public Access to the Records.--The Archivist shall make all 
the aforementioned records accessible to the public and searchable by 
means of the Internet and by any other means the Archivist deems 
appropriate.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 21 of title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following:

``2119. Holocaust Insurance Registry.''.
    (c) Agreements With European Countries.--
            (1) Agreements.--The Secretary of State shall seek to enter 
        into agreements with European countries to make available to 
        the Holocaust Insurance Registry information on covered 
        policies that is stored in the archives or other government 
        repositories of such countries.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, and every 6 months thereafter, the 
        Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report on efforts 
        to carry out this subsection.

SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE OF HOLOCAUST-ERA POLICIES BY INSURERS.

    (a) Requirement.--An insurer shall file, in an electronic format, 
with the Secretary of Commerce the following information:
            (1) The first name, last name, date of birth, and domicile 
        of the policyholder of each covered policy issued or reinsured 
        by the insurer or a related company of the insurer.
            (2) The name of the entity that issued the covered policy.
            (3) The name of the entity that is responsible for the 
        liabilities of the entity that issued the covered policy.
    (b) Filing.--Information under subsection (a) shall be filed not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. PROVISION OF INFORMATION TO ARCHIVIST.

    The Secretary of Commerce shall provide to the Archivist of the 
United States any information filed with the Secretary under section 
4(a) promptly after the filing of such information.

SEC. 6. PENALTY.

    The Secretary of Commerce shall assess a civil penalty of not less 
than $5,000 for each day that an insurer fails to comply with the 
requirements of section 4, as determined by the Secretary.

SEC. 7. USE OF AMOUNTS RECEIVED AS CIVIL PENALTIES.

    To the extent or in the amounts provided in advance in 
appropriation Acts, the Archivist of the United States may use amounts 
received by the Government as civil penalties under section 6 to 
maintain the Holocaust Insurance Registry.

SEC. 8. NOTIFICATION.

    (a) Initial Notification.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and periodically thereafter, the 
Secretary of Commerce shall notify each State's commissioner of 
insurance of the identity of each insurer that has failed to comply 
with the requirements of section 4 or has not satisfied any civil 
penalty for which the insurer is liable under section 6.
    (b) Requests by States.--On request by the commissioner of 
insurance of a State concerning an insurer operating in that State, the 
Secretary of Commerce shall inform the commissioner of insurance 
whether the insurer has failed to comply with the requirements of 
section 4 or has not satisfied any civil penalty for which the insurer 
is liable under section 6.

SEC. 9. STATE HOLOCAUST INSURANCE STATUTES.

    (a) Preemption.--Nothing in this Act preempts--
            (1) any State law requiring an insurer in such State to 
        disclose information regarding covered policies sold or for 
        which reinsurance was provided; or
            (2) any rights or remedies available to a claimant under 
        State law relating to a covered policy.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that if any 
litigation challenging any State law described in subsection (a) is 
dismissed because the State's commissioner of insurance chooses to rely 
on this Act and therefore no longer seeks to enforce the State law, 
each party should bear its own legal fees and costs.

SEC. 10. FEDERAL CAUSE OF ACTION FOR COVERED CLAIMS.

    (a) Federal Cause of Action.--
            (1) In general.--There shall exist a Federal cause of 
        action for any claim arising out of or related to a covered 
        policy against any insurer or related company.
            (2) Effect on other causes of action.--An action under 
        paragraph (1) shall be maintainable in addition to any cause of 
        action arising under State or international law.
            (3) Standing.--A claim under paragraph (1) may be brought 
        by the person who purchased such covered policy, a beneficiary 
        or heir of such person, or an assignee of such person or a 
        beneficiary or heir of such person.
            (4) Treble damages; interest.--In an action under this 
        subsection, the measure of damages shall be not less than three 
        times the amount of--
                    (A) the claim under the covered policy in United 
                States dollars as of December 31, 1938; and
                    (B) interest at a rate of 6 percent per year 
                compounded annually from the date when the claim for 
                which an action exists under this subsection could have 
                first been made until the date of judgment under this 
                subsection.
            (5) Attorneys fees.--In an action under this subsection, a 
        court shall award a successful claimant reasonable attorneys 
        fees and costs incurred in investigating and prosecuting the 
        claim.
    (b) Subject Matter Jurisdiction.--The district courts shall have 
original jurisdiction of any civil action arising out of or related to 
a covered policy (whether brought under subsection (a) or otherwise).
    (c) Personal Jurisdiction.--Notwithstanding any provision of Rule 4 
of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to the contrary, in a civil 
action arising from or related to a covered policy (whether brought 
under subsection (a) or otherwise) commenced in a district where the 
defendant is not a resident--
            (1) the court may exercise jurisdiction over such defendant 
        on any basis not inconsistent with the Constitution of the 
        United States; and
            (2) service of process, summons, and subpoena may be made 
        on such defendant in any manner not inconsistent with the 
        Constitution of the United States.
    (d) Retroactive Application.--This Act shall apply retroactively to 
any claim arising out of or related to a covered policy to the fullest 
extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States, including 
claims previously dismissed on the ground of executive preemption and 
claims for which class action settlements occurring prior to the 
effective date of this Act purport to effect a release of claims not 
accompanied by an actual payment.
    (e) Statute of Limitations.--Any action brought under this Act 
shall be filed not later than 10 years after the effective date of this 
Act.

SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Commissioner of insurance.--The term ``commissioner of 
        insurance'' means the highest ranking officer of a State 
        responsible for regulating insurance.
            (2) Covered policy.--The term ``covered policy'' means any 
        life, dowry, education, property or other insurance policy that 
        was--
                    (A) in effect at any time after January 30, 1933, 
                and before December 31, 1945; and
                    (B) issued to a policyholder domiciled in any area 
                that was occupied or controlled by Nazi Germany or by 
                any ally or sympathizer of Nazi Germany at any time 
                during the period described in subparagraph (A).
            (3) Insurer.--The term ``insurer'' means any person engaged 
        in the business of insurance (including reinsurance) in 
        interstate or foreign commerce, if the person or a related 
        company of the person issued or reinsured a covered policy, 
        regardless of when the related company became a related company 
        of the insurer.
            (4) Related company.--The term ``related company'' means an 
        affiliate, as that term is defined in section 104(g) of the 
        Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6701(g)).
                                 <all>