Russ Feingold: “I am going to speak briefly this afternoon about a piece of legislation that I introduced yesterday S. 1917, the…”

“I am going to speak briefly this afternoon about a piece of legislation that I introduced yesterday S. 1917, the Anti-Redlining in Insurance Disclosure Act of 1994. This bill is designed to address the longstanding problem involving discrimination in the insurance industry which effectively denies millions of Americans access to affordable or adequate insurance for their homes and businesses--a practice better known as insurance redlining. Historically the term has been associated with certain discriminatory practices carried out by lending institutions which drew lines on maps in red ink around communities that they did not want to provide their respective financial services to--typically home or small business loans. These redlined areas were generally comprised of neighborhoods in which large or growing numbers of minority residents lived. For years similar practices were carried out by some members of the insurance industry and more recently similar results have been achieved by more subtle industry practices which leave many residents of poor or minority communities without access to adequate or affordable property insurance. Sadly enough, the decision on who gets insurance and what type of coverage they will receive based solely on the color of an applicant's skin or the neighborhood in which that person lives has taken place for some time now.”