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<div id="gmail-crumbs"><span><a rel="v:url" class="gmail-crumbs-home" href="https://azcapitoltimes.com"><i class="gmail-tieicon-home"></i>Home</a></span> / <span><a rel="v:url" href="https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/category/legislature/">legislature</a></span> / <span class="gmail-current">Bill proposes English as language that governs insurance contracts</span></div>
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<h1 class="gmail-name gmail-post-title entry-title"><span>Bill proposes English as language that governs insurance contracts</span></h1>
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<span class="gmail-post-meta-author">By: <a href="https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/author/howiefischer/" title="">Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services </a></span>
<span class="gmail-tie-date">February 28, 2018 , 3:33 pm</span>
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<p class="gmail-Default">A Senate panel voted Wednesday to let insurers
disavow foreign-language versions of the contracts they provide, a move
one lawmaker said will allow companies to “give people the shaft.”</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">HB 2083 would spell out that the English language
version of any policy governs any dispute between insurance companies
and their customers, even if a version in another language prepared by
the company says something else. It would, however, require that there
be a disclosure on the non-English version that it has no binding
effect, no matter the difference.</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_60944" style="width:160px" class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-alignleft"><a href="https://azcapitoltimes.com/files/2013/07/Livingston-David.jpg"><img class="gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-60944" src="https://azcapitoltimes.com/files/2013/07/Livingston-David.jpg" alt="Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria)" width="150" height="200"></a><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria)</p></div>
<p class="gmail-Default">The measure, approved on a 4-3 party line vote by the
Senate Finance Committee, is being sponsored at the behest of the
industry by Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria. He said the presumption of
validity for the English version starts with the 2006 voter-approved
constitutional provision measure declaring English the official language
of the state.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">But Livingston said the change actually will help those who don’t speak English.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">“There are some words, especially technical words, in
contracts that don’t translate exactly,” he said. Livingston said that
can result in disputes about which version governs.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">“The insurance companies are saying, ‘I’m not going
to take that risk,’ ” he said, deciding to furnish only an English
version even when customers don’t speak that language. Livingston said
his bill would encourage insurers to provide versions in other languages
knowing that these can’t be used against them in court.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">But it was precisely that point that annoyed foes.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">“If you’re saying that only English governs, and the
customer is provided with a Spanish or any other language translation of
the contract, and they sign on as a customer in good faith thinking
that’s what they’re doing, and then there’s a dispute and it’s a
translation problem, you’ve just transferred the risk and liability onto
the customer,” said Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">Livingston, a former insurance agent, said the
alternative is having no translation at all. He said that has meant
situations where a couple that does not speak English ends up bringing a
bilingual child to the office of the insurance company to help a parent
understand the basics of coverage.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">And Livingston said that his legislation actually
will help those in non-English speaking communities, providing them more
opportunities to get coverage. Farley sniffed at that contention.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">“If the insurance company wants the business enough,
to be able to ask for the business and have that contract, they should
be willing to stand behind the contract in whatever language they have
translated it for,” he said.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">“It sounds like a good idea,” said Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford, D-Tucson. “But then they give the people the shaft.”</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">Marc Osborn, lobbyist for Nationwide Mutual Insurance
Co., said there are protections against insurers using a deliberately
mistranslated version to defraud customers.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">He said nothing in the legislation would overrule
existing regulations that require insurance companies to use licensed
translators who have been approved by the state Department of Insurance.
And Osborn said there are laws prohibiting false advertising.</p>
<p class="gmail-Default">The measure, which already h</p></div></div></article></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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