SD AND WV SUED BY COUNCIL OVER THEIR COUNTER-SIGNATURE LAWS.

The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers has filed suit in South Dakota and West Virginia as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands challenging their statutes precluding out-of-state insurance brokers from conducting business in their jurisdictions without the counter-signature of a resident agent.

The Council won a similar suit challenging the Florida counter-signature law Sept. 30 on grounds the law violated the privileges and immunities clause of the Constitution by discriminating against non-resident agents and brokers.

"Each individual state retains its own sovereignty and its own ability to govern within its borders," U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle wrote in the Florida case.

"A state thus may require that persons seeking to engage in any particular form of economic activity - acting as an insurance agent, for example - demonstrate their competence and meet appropriate prerequisites to licensure.

"But no state may build a fence at the border to keep out residents of other states or to keep them from competing for business within the state."

CIAB has a similar case pending against Nevada's counter-signature law.

"With the three latest lawsuits, The Council has brought legal action in every state that has the controversial counter-signature requirement on the books," CIAB President Ken A. Crerar said.

"These counter-signature laws are egregious and stubborn vestiges of protectionism that have no place in the 21st Century."