[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1389 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1389

 To clarify the exemption for certain annuity contracts and insurance 
   policies from Federal regulation under the Securities Act of 1933.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 25, 2009

Mr. Nelson of Nebraska (for himself, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Harkin, and Mr. 
  Brownback) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To clarify the exemption for certain annuity contracts and insurance 
   policies from Federal regulation under the Securities Act of 1933.

    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 ``Fixed Indexed Annuities and 
Insurance Products Classification Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Primary jurisdiction for regulating life insurance and 
        annuities is vested with the States and Territories of the 
        United States and the District of Columbia.
            (2) Indexed insurance and annuity products offered by 
        insurance companies are subject to a wide array of laws and 
        regulations enforced by States and applicable jurisdictions, 
        including nonforfeiture requirements that provide for minimum 
        guaranteed values, thereby protecting consumers against market 
        related losses.
            (3) Adoption of Rule 151A by the Securities and Exchange 
        Commission, entitled ``Indexed Annuities and Certain Other 
        Insurance Products'', 74 Fed. Reg. 3138 (January 16, 2009), 
        interferes with State insurance regulation, harms the insurance 
        industry, reduces competition, restricts consumer choice, 
        creates unnecessary and excessive regulatory burdens, and 
        diverts Commission resources, all of which outweighs any 
        perceived benefits.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to nullify rule 151A and 
clarify the scope of the exemption for annuities and insurance 
contracts from Federal regulation under the Securities Act of 1933.

SEC. 3. SCOPE OF EXEMPTION FROM FEDERAL SECURITIES REGULATION.

    Section 3(a)(8) of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77c(a)(8)) 
is amended by inserting before the semicolon the following: ``, and any 
insurance or endowment policy or annuity contract or optional annuity 
contract--
                    ``(A) the value of which does not vary according to 
                the performance of a separate account; and
                    ``(B) which satisfies standard nonforfeiture laws 
                or similar requirements of the applicable State, 
                Territory, or District of Columbia at time of issue, or 
                in the absence of applicable standard nonforfeiture 
                laws or requirements, satisfies the Model Standard 
                Nonforfeiture Law for Life Insurance or Model Standard 
                Nonforfeiture Law for Individual Deferred Annuities, or 
                any successor model law, as published by the National 
                Association of Insurance Commissioners''.

SEC. 4. NULLIFICATION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL SECURITIES REGULATIONS.

    Rule 151A promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and 
entitled ``Indexed Annuities and Certain Other Insurance Contracts'', 
74 Fed. Reg. 3138 (January 16, 2009), shall have no force or effect.
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