Public Act 93-0333

HB2379 Enrolled                      LRB093 07230 JLS 07386 b

    AN ACT concerning insurers.

    Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section  5.  The  Illinois  Insurance  Code is amended by
adding Section 155.39 as follows:

    (215 ILCS 5/155.39 new)
    Sec. 155.39.  Slave era policies.
    (a)  The General Assembly finds and declares all  of  the
following:
         (1)  Insurance  policies  from  the slavery era have
    been discovered in  the  archives  of  several  insurance
    companies,    documenting    insurance    coverage    for
    slaveholders  for  damage  to  or  death of their slaves,
    issued by a predecessor insurance firm.  These  documents
    provide  the  first  evidence  of ill-gotten profits from
    slavery, which profits in part capitalized insurers whose
    successors remain in existence today.
         (2)  Legislation has been introduced in Congress for
    the past 10 years demanding an inquiry into  slavery  and
    its continuing legacies.
         (3)  The Director of Insurance and the Department of
    Insurance are entitled to seek information from the files
    of  insurers  licensed  and doing business in this State,
    including licensed Illinois subsidiaries of international
    insurance  corporations,  regarding  insurance   policies
    issued  to  slaveholders by predecessor corporations. The
    people of Illinois are entitled to significant historical
    information of this nature.
    (b)  The Department shall request and obtain  information
from  insurers  licensed  and  doing  business  in this State
regarding  any  records  of  slaveholder  insurance  policies
issued by any predecessor corporation during the slavery era.
    (c)  The  Department  shall  obtain  the  names  of   any
slaveholders  or slaves described in those insurance records,
and shall make the information available to  the  public  and
the General Assembly.
    (d)  Any  insurer  licensed  and  doing  business in this
State shall  research  and  report  to  the  Department  with
respect  to  any  records  within the insurer's possession or
knowledge  relating   to   insurance   policies   issued   to
slaveholders that provided coverage for damage to or death of
their slaves.
    (e)  Descendants  of slaves, whose ancestors were defined
as  private  property,  dehumanized,   divided   from   their
families,   forced   to  perform  labor  without  appropriate
compensation or benefits, and whose  ancestors'  owners  were
compensated  for  damages  by  insurers, are entitled to full
disclosure.