IIK Helped Pass HB 150 to Blunt Impact of ALI Overreach
IIK worked with Rep. Joe Fischer to pass HB 150 in the 2020 legislative session. It had quite a wild ride before it was finally passed, but it did finally become law. The bill initially passed the House and then underwent revisions in the Senate before passing there. The House and Senate eventually agreed on a final form of the bill identical with the Senate version and it passed on March 26, 2020. Unfortunately, the Governor chose to veto the bill. His veto was overridden and the bill became law when registered with the Secretary of State.
By way of background for HB 150, in May 2018 the American Law Institute (ALI) voted to approve a much-anticipated Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance that had been the source of a great deal of controversy. The Restatement is widely viewed in the insurance industry as deviating from settled insurance law in a majority of jurisdictions. In the past, the ALI has reported on the state of the law throughout the nation, but this restatement is widely viewed as advocacy and not reporting.
A number of states have taken action addressing the ALI Restatement and its possible impact on court decisions affecting insurance law, and a number of others are currently considering action. The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) also passed a Model Act on this issue in July 2019 which was also sponsored by Rep. Fischer.
Like the NCOIL Model Act, HB 150 establishes in a KY statute that restatements and other similar policy pronouncements do not constitute the law or public policy of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and that no Kentucky court shall treat any such publication or text as controlling authority.