[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF SAVINGS BANK LIFE 
                               INSURANCE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 26, 2007

  Mr. DELAHUNT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 100th 
Anniversary of a financial service product that was unique to the 
United States when created in Massachusetts in 1907. I refer to Savings 
Bank Life Insurance, which was the brainchild of Louis D. Brandeis, 
then a prominent Boston attorney and subsequently, of course, an 
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Legislation 
authored by Brandeis that created Savings Bank Life Insurance of 
Massachusetts was signed into law 100 years ago today by Massachusetts 
Governor Curtis Guild, Jr.
  At a time when life insurance was often too expensive for ordinary 
citizens and especially recent immigrants to afford, Louis Brandeis 
examined the ``delivery system,'' as we would call it in modem 
parlance, and concluded the Commonwealth's mutual savings banks could 
best fill this unmet need by selling life insurance policies directly 
to their depositors. Now, of course, financial services companies 
routinely offer banking and insurance products, but in 1907, this was a 
bold experiment. Indeed it was not until 1999 that this Congress passed 
legislation formally allowing banks and insurance companies to 
affiliate throughout the United States.
  In the 100 years since its establishment in Massachusetts, Savings 
Bank Life Insurance has gained broad consumer acceptance to the point 
where the Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts has 
become the leading provider of ordinary life insurance in 
Massachusetts. The company, headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, has 
nearly $2 billion in assets and $70 billion of life insurance in force.
  I am especially pleased to note that, as the centerpiece of its 
centennial celebration, the Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of 
Massachusetts has underwritten the production of a documentary entitled 
``Louis Brandeis: The People's Attorney,'' that traces the life and 
achievements of Justice Brandeis through the use of archival footage, 
images and reenactments, and features commentary by U.S. Supreme Court 
Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf, and 
several noted Brandeis scholars, as well as personal recollections by 
his three grandchildren. Produced by Emmy-award-winning Stuart 
Television Productions, the documentary will air on selected PBS 
television stations later this year.
  Gerald T. Mulligan and Robert K. Sheridan, who serve respectively as 
chairman and chief executive officer of the Savings Bank Life Insurance 
Company of Massachusetts, deserve our appreciation not only for being 
the stewards of what Justice Brandeis called his greatest achievement, 
but for their efforts in the form of this new documentary to preserve 
and promote the life story of Justice Brandeis himself.

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