New Mexico Public Regulation Commission Insurance Division Amendment, Constitutional Amendment 4 (2012)

Constitutional Amendment 4
Type	Constitutional amendment
Origin	New Mexico State Legislature
Topic	Admin. of gov't
Status	a

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission Insurance Division Amendment, or Constitutional Amendment 4, was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on the November 6, 2012 ballot in the state of New Mexico, where it was approved.

The measure removed the insurance division from the Public Regulations Commission, and made it an independent entity. According to reports, the measure was proposed during 2012 state legislative session, and was sent to the ballot after legislature voted to do so before the end of session on February 2012.

Election results

See also: 2012 ballot measure election results

The following are official election results:

New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 4 (2012)
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		327,097	50.71%
No		317,890	49.29%

Results via New Mexico Secretary of State (dead link).

Text of measure

Ballot language

The language that voters saw on the ballot read as follows:

“

A Joint Resolution Proposing To Amend Article 11 Of The Constitution Of New Mexico To Remove The Regulation Of Insurance Companies And Others Engaged In Risk Assumption From The Public Regulation Commission And Place It Under A Superintendent Of Insurance Appointed [From Nominees Submitted To The Governor] By The Insurance Nominating Committee As Provided By Law. For ____________ Against ____________

”

Support

The following are arguments that were made in support of the measure. The information below was obtained from the League of Women Voters of Los Alamos:

• "The insurance industry is so complex and so important to the lives of New Mexicans that it should be overseen by an independent agency that is solely focused on that task. PRC commissioners lack the specialized expertise to successfully oversee the insurance industry."
• "Removing insurance regulation from the PRC and placing it within an independent agency would help to insulate it from politics. The political pressure placed on the Insurance Division by the PRC (for example, to hire unqualified staff is a major reason why the National Association of Insurance Commissioners placed the division on probation for several years and a 2012 review by the Center for Integrity gave the Division an “F”."
• "This amendment would align New Mexico with the 35 other states that have stand-alone departments of insurance."

Opposition

The following are arguments that were made in support of the measure. The information below was obtained from the League of Women Voters of Los Alamos:

• "The amendment leaves it up to the Legislature to establish the membership of the nominating committee and the qualifications of the Insurance Superintendent, meaning that voters would not know exactly what those will be before they vote on the amendment."
• "Although the PRC’s Insurance Division has suffered from numerous problems, the PRC has been working to improve it and should be allowed to continue the process."
• "Having the Superintendent of Insurance appointed by a nominating committee rather than by the PRC means that voters would no longer vote directly for the people who appoint the Superintendent."

Path to the ballot

According to Article XIX of the New Mexico Constitution, it takes a majority vote of all members of both houses of the New Mexico State Legislature to refer a proposed amendment to the ballot.

See also

Suggest a link

• New Mexico 2012 ballot measures
• 2012 ballot measures
• List of New Mexico ballot measures
• New Mexico Legislature
• List of ballot measures by state

External links

• New Mexico General Election 2012 Sample Ballot