Donelon’s new industry role a plus for La.

Few outside the insurance industry may have given much thought to last week’s announcement that Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon will take over as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, effective tomorrow. But those in the industry say the move has positive implications for Louisiana and signals a big change in the way the rest of the industry views the state. “It shows that the rest of the regulatory industry looks to Louisiana as a leader,” says Tom Clark, an insurance regulatory attorney with Adams and Reese. “We’re not backwards. We’re not corrupt. We’re where we need to be.” That’s especially important given the recent history of Louisiana, where three successive insurance commissioners in the 1980s and 1990s were convicted on federal charges. Clark says former Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley began to turn the state’s image in this area around in the early 2000s but that Donelon, who became commissioner in 2006, “has really kicked it up a notch.” In a statement last week, Donelon says his role will not be merely ceremonial but will enable him to “engage in the insurance debate on a leadership level, and place Louisiana at the forefront in the study and development of insurance regulation.” The role of the NAIC is to help state insurance regulators establish standards and best practices, coordinate their regulatory oversight, and have a critical role in the implementation of those measures as they impact the insurance markets and consumers across the nation and beyond. —Stephanie Riegel