A bill to amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to limit the property, casualty, and life insurance activities of bank holding companies and their subsidiaries and to prohibit discrimination in the sale of insurance.
Equal Insurance Opportunity and Availability Act - Title I: Nondiscrimination in Insurance Act - Nondiscrimination in Insurance Act - Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the consideration of applications for, or the granting of, insurance policies and the terms of such policies.
Permits insurers who regularly provide insurance solely to persons of a single religious affiliation to continue to do so.
Grants to State or local governments having insurance discrimination laws the primary opportunity to enforce this Act. Permits an aggrieved person to file a civil action in State or Federal court against an insurer, if a State or local authority which has received notice of a complaint fails to act within 60 days or with respect to those authorities not having insurance discrimination laws.
Authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil action in district court when there is reasonable cause to believe that a person or group is engaged in a pattern or practice of resistance to the rights granted by this Act and that such denial raises an issue of general public importance.
Title II: Insurance Activities of Bank Holding Companies - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to prohibit bank holding companies and their subsidiaries from selling insurance as principals, agents, or brokers, except: (1) where the insurance secures an extension of credit in the event of death or disability of the debtor; (2) where the insurance is declining balance credit property insurance, sold by a subsidiary finance company, to protect against loss or damage to collateral securing an extension of credit of $10,000 or less (adjusted by the Consumer Price Index with 1980 as the base year); (3) in the case of insurance agency activity in a community of less than 5,000 or which has inadequate insurance agency facilities; (4) in the case of insurance agency activity lawfully engaged in by a bank holding company as of specified dates; (5) in the case of certain supervisory activity over agents who sell insurance covering a holding company's property and employees; and (6) where State law contravenes such prohibitions with respect to bank holding company insurance activities.
Directs the Federal Trade Commission to report annually on the availability of insurance in standard metropolitan statistical areas in all States except those qualifying for an exception under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.
Title III: - Directs the Department of Justice, in consultation with other specified Federal agencies, to report to Congress on the impact of this Act in preventing discrimination in the provision and availability of insurance, including the need to extend the prohibitions of title II to other financial institutions.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs.
Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation and Tourism.
Referred to Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Supervision, Regulation and Insurance.
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