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Authorizing City Council’s Committee on Legislative Oversight to hold public hearings on the City’s high automobile insurance premiums and the report and recommendations of the Mayor’s Automobile Insurance Rate Task Force in order to reduce those premiums.
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WHEREAS, Automobile insurance premiums in Philadelphia are the highest among the top ten major cities in the nation, and are also twice as high as premiums in our region’s surrounding counties; and
WHEREAS, The establishment of these premiums involve a number of economic, political, and social factors, including the region’s frequency of uninsured vehicles, insurance fraud, high insurance claims, auto theft and the cost of repairs; and
WHEREAS, Mayoral Executive Order 2-99 created the Mayor’s Automobile Insurance Rate Task Force, co-chaired by Police Commissioner John Timoney and Former Solicitor Joseph Dworetzky, establishing a blue-ribbon panel to examine how to reduce Philadelphia’s astronomical automobile insurance rates, modeled on a successful task force in New York City; and
WHEREAS, The Task Force found that “high automobile insurance rates are the primary cause for Philadelphia’s high uninsured motorist rate, as well as a major contributing factor for residents moving out of the city and into the suburban counties, where their rates will instantly be cut in half”; and
WHEREAS, The Task Force met with many officials, advocacy groups, and trade representatives, as well as officials from other municipalities, and retained the expert services of a national car insurance expert to assist in its investigation; and
WHEREAS, The Task Force submitted its final report on June 29, 2000, which made many important findings and recommendations, which would greatly benefit the City and its drivers if they were to be made public; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That authority be given to the Legislative Oversight Committee to hold public hearings on the City’s high automobile insurance premiums and the report and recommendations of the Mayor’s Automobile Insurance Rate Task Force in order to reduce those premiums.
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