Last updated on 2016-02-20
Senator Betty Olson has her problems (curse the poor! curse the GF&P! curse Standard Time!), but she has her soft spot. The Republican from Prairie City is actually proposing something like Obamacare for homeowners insurance.
Senate Bill 61 would prohibit insurers from canceling homeowners’ policies due to natural causes:
Section 1. That chapter 58-1 be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
No homeowner’s insurance policy may be denied for renewal as a result of a single claim within a three-year period arising from natural causes. No homeowner’s insurance policy may be cancelled during its term of any claim arising from natural causes.
Any insurer which violates any provision of this section is subject to fines and penalties applicable to a licensed insurer generally, including suspension or revocation of its license or the right to do business in this state. The director may order the reinstatement, with no lapse in coverage, of any policy cancelled or nonrenewed in violation of this section.
For the purpose of this section, the term, natural cause, means an act occasioned exclusively by the violence of nature where all human agency is excluded from creating or contributing to cause of damage or injury [Senate Bill 61, posted 2016.01.21].
Hmm… can’t cancel your insurance just because the very sort of unpredictable act of nature for which one buys insurance actually happens… that sounds an awful lot like what that really nice man in the White House did for us when he made it illegal of health insurers to take away our insurance just because we get sick.
Betty Olson, Barack Obama—same initials, same instinct for insurance fairness. Hooray!
Wow, it is extremely rare that I agree with Betty Olson on something (well, last year I agree with her on voting against SB1), so this is good to see! And yes, a perfect analogy Cory.
(btw, the photo-shop is hysterical)
It’s an illustration, quite frankly, of the stopped clock syndrome.
This bill does nothing. Insurance companies don’t and can’t cancel policies during their term because of a claim. If they want to get rid of a customer they will non-renew at the end of a term, which this bill doesn’t prevent.
This is another example of LRC sabotaging an idea it doesn’t like by drafting it such that it is guaranteed to fail. Betty Olson can’t figure this out, which is good most of the time.
Ror, LRC wouldn’t meddle in the Legislative process like that, would they?
A healthy dose of cynicism helps when dealing with the legislatures, Mr. H. This LRC is in the midst of many a debacle. Do you remember the horoscope law bill?
Of course the LRC drafter would claim that he/she just wrote it the way Betty requested it. But unless that drafter is incompetent, the drafting flaw is readily apparent. The LRC staff that write bills are either lawyers or trained. Remember, this is their job. They’re not ranchers or farmers. Here’s a hint. If someone wants a resolution written, and astrology somehow gets into the resolution it’s not an accident. Rep. Elmer Fudd never figured that one out either.
I honestly do wish that “Laugh In” was still a prime time TV show…… This is absolutely perfect fodder for Goldie Hawn!
You have to wonder where Betty Olson would conceal her pistol if she were really wearing that dress.
Well.Rohr, I for one can safely say that I am not going to go there. Some things are better left unimagined.
Rohr, doesn’t this language in the proposed law cover non-renewal: “No homeowner’s insurance policy may be denied for renewal . . . .”
But is this really happening or is this another solution in search of a problem? Are insurance companies refusing to renew policies if there has been a single claim within 3 years? I have learned that if there are two claims within the first 2 or 3 years of coverage, insurance companies will typically refuse to renew a homeowners policy, but I have never heard of this happening based on a single claim.
Betty Olson is being forced from the legislature by…me.
I’m going to need some substantiation for that claim, Larry.
Olson isn’t seeking reelection because of my efforts exposing her to federal law enforcement for her connection to the American Lands Council and other Bundy conspiracies.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/legislative-candidate-list-grows-but-without-gop-firebrand-olson/article_5b8d0b60-59b6-524e-92fd-4171585bff33.html
Rounding back to Cory’s point, Betty Olson advocates for state police and county constabulary while decrying federal authority over her domain because of white privilege.
How are 64+ county seats and their bureaucracies either conservative or sustainable, Betty?
The Wanblee district should be in Ogala Lakota County then Jackson should be rolled into Haakon, Jones and Lyman Counties. Stanley and Sully should be rolled into Hughes. Mellette, Bennett, Todd, Gregory and Tripp should be one county. Dewey, Ziebach and Corson should be a county. Butte, Harding and Perkins should be one. Lawrence and Meade should be one, Fall River and Custer should be one.
Fine. Stanley might be happier being in with Lyman and the others. East River is a dead zone: smarter people than i can figure out how to sort out that mess. Everything east of the Missouri River is Cleveland anyway.
They caved.
01/26/2016 Withdrawn at the Request of the Prime Sponsor S.J. 138.