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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
SUPPORT FOR ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE BILL 4633 AND CONDEMNATION OF LIFE INSURERS WHO REFUSE TO FIND BENEFICIARIES OF UNCLAIMED BENEFITS
WHEREAS, the 99th General Assembly of the State of Illinois has recently considered House Bill 4633; and
WHEREAS, House Bill 4633 will create the Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act; and
WHEREAS, The Act will require all authorized insurers regulated by the Illinois Department of Insurance to undertake good faith efforts to locate beneficiaries and make payment funds owed to those beneficiaries; and
WHEREAS, the Cook County Board of Commissioners is entrusted with the responsibility for the welfare of the residents of Cook County; and
WHEREAS, United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has recently called upon Cook County-based insurance company, Kemper Corp. to disavow the practice of withholding unclaimed beneficiary funds; and
WHEREAS, Kemper Corp, an insurer with several subsidiaries, headquartered in Cook County, has $8 billion dollars in assets; and
WHEREAS, Kemper Corp. and its subsidiaries hold billions of dollars in unclaimed benefits; and
WHEREAS, Kemper Corp. and its subsidiaries profit and bolster their bottom line by intentionally withholding beneficiaries’ rightful funds; and
WHEREAS, At the same time that many of the residents of Cook County experience financial hardships as a result of the death of loved ones, Kemper Corp. and other Insurers record massive profits; and
WHEREAS, The State of Illinois and 40 other states have recently filed suit against insurers to force them to allow an audit; and
WHEREAS, Kemper Corp. has filed suit to stop Illinois from auditing its records of unclaimed benefit payments; and
WHEREAS, the corporate entities of Cook County should hold themselves to the highest standards of ethics, decency, and good corporate citizenship; and
WHEREAS, withholding unclaimed funds and making no efforts to locate beneficiaries, as well as obstructing efforts to require compliance with Illinois law fall far short of these standards; and
WHEREAS, the practices of not locating or notifying beneficiaries and denying beneficiaries with a rightful claim to life insurance proceeds could amount to the tortious act of conversion; and
WHEREAS, the Cook County Board will not sit silently while a corporate citizen of Cook County perpetrates such harm on the residents of Cook County.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the President and Cook County Board of Commissioners do hereby support and encourage the 99th General Assembly of the State of Illinois in the passage of House Bill 4633 and strongly encourage Governor Rauner to sign such legislation into law; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the President and the Cook County Board of Commissioners strongly encourage Kemper Corp. and its subsidiaries to dismiss its suit against the State of Illinois and fully submit to the State’s effort to audit their policy records; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the President and the Cook County Board of Commissioners condemn in the strongest terms, the actions of life insurers who sell policies to the residents of Cook County and have willfully and wantonly withheld payment of claims and refused to find and notify beneficiaries.
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