Number
041023
Version
SUBSTITUTE 3
Reference
Sponsor
ALD. MURPHY
Title
Substitute resolution authorizing and directing the Intergovernmental Relations Division-Department of Administration to lobby for passage of a State of Wisconsin environmental insurance reform bill.
Analysis
This resolution authorizes and directs the Intergovernmental Relations Division - Department of Administration to lobby for introduction and passage of a Wisconsin environmental insurance reform bill by the state legislature. This legislation would, among other things, eliminate the ambiguity in current Wisconsin environmental insurance law regarding how an insurance claim is to be handled when multiple insurance carriers are responsible. This ambiguity permits insurance companies to withhold or delay payments, thereby slowing environmental remediation efforts and leading to greater reliance on the use of public funds for remediation. The proposed legislation would stipulate that in a case of multiple insurance carriers, once the policyholder notifies one of the carriers of an environmental claim, the insurance company shall pay “all sums” for which the company is liable, rather than merely pro-rated costs.
Body
Whereas, Over 7,000 abandoned or underused sites in Wisconsin, including many in Milwaukee, have known environmental contamination; and
Whereas, Many sites remain contaminated because their owners lack sufficient funds to clean them up; and
Whereas, While the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources operates a program to fund the clean-up of such neglected, contaminated sites, this program is not funded at a level sufficient to clean up all sites; and
Whereas, Government-funded clean-up of contaminated sites represents an unfair distribution of the costs of clean-up to property taxpayers at large; and
Whereas, One of the primary reasons that private funds are unavailable for environmental remediation of contaminated sites is the widespread ...
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