093_HB2379
LRB093 07230 JLS 07386 b
1 AN ACT concerning insurers.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Illinois Insurance Code is amended by
5 adding Section 155.39 as follows:
6 (215 ILCS 5/155.39 new)
7 Sec. 155.39. Slave era policies.
8 (a) The General Assembly finds and declares all of the
9 following:
10 (1) Insurance policies from the slavery era have
11 been discovered in the archives of several insurance
12 companies, documenting insurance coverage for
13 slaveholders for damage to or death of their slaves,
14 issued by a predecessor insurance firm. These documents
15 provide the first evidence of ill-gotten profits from
16 slavery, which profits in part capitalized insurers whose
17 successors remain in existence today.
18 (2) Legislation has been introduced in Congress for
19 the past 10 years demanding an inquiry into slavery and
20 its continuing legacies.
21 (3) The Director of Insurance and the Department of
22 Insurance are entitled to seek information from the files
23 of insurers licensed and doing business in this State,
24 including licensed Illinois subsidiaries of international
25 insurance corporations, regarding insurance policies
26 issued to slaveholders by predecessor corporations. The
27 people of Illinois are entitled to significant historical
28 information of this nature.
29 (b) The Department shall request and obtain information
30 from insurers licensed and doing business in this State
31 regarding any records of slaveholder insurance policies
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1 issued by any predecessor corporation during the slavery era.
2 (c) The Department shall obtain the names of any
3 slaveholders or slaves described in those insurance records,
4 and shall make the information available to the public and
5 the General Assembly.
6 (d) Any insurer licensed and doing business in this
7 State shall research and report to the Department with
8 respect to any records within the insurer's possession or
9 knowledge relating to insurance policies issued to
10 slaveholders that provided coverage for damage to or death of
11 their slaves.
12 (e) Descendants of slaves, whose ancestors were defined
13 as private property, dehumanized, divided from their
14 families, forced to perform labor without appropriate
15 compensation or benefits, and whose ancestors' owners were
16 compensated for damages by insurers, are entitled to full
17 disclosure.