City Insurance

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Issue Brief

From the 2012 Detroit City Charter commentary: “This Charter recognizes that an essential component of a stable and thriving municipality is an affordable quality of life. Central to this is the ability to purchase automobile and property insurance at reasonable and competitive rates. For decades citizens have been plagued by excessively high automobile and home insurance rates that foster residential flight, compounds economic hardship and may encourage improper insurance activity by citizens. In order to directly address this critical issue, this revised Charter empowers the City of Detroit to investigate and institute an insurance system to the extent feasible and permitted by law."

Departments Involved

• Corporation Counsel

• Law Department

Charter Language

Sec. 9-801. City Sponsored Insurance Assistance.

To the extent allowed by law, the City of Detroit may establish an insurance system to provide, support, supplement or otherwise assist in the provision of automobile and/or property insurance for City residents. Within sixty (60) days of the effective date of this Charter, the Corporation Counsel shall advise the City Council and Mayor, in writing, on the legal requirements necessary to implement the insurance systems contemplated by this chapter and whether there exists any legal prohibition to implementing the insurance system.

No insurance system shall be implemented without the Mayor and City Council jointly commissioning a feasibility study that must demonstrate the ability of the City to fund, sustain and operate the insurance system in a fiscally responsible manner. Any insurance system implemented by the City shall be done pursuant to ordinance and in accordance with applicable laws.

City Council may, by majority vote, discontinue the operation of any insurance program implemented under this chapter.

Resources

DetCharter Resources

• Detroit Auto Insurance Could Become More Affordable Under New City Charter - Huffington Post - Kate Abbey-Lambertz

User Generated Resources

• If you have any information relevent to this topic please mail it to info@detcharter.com and we will include it in our list of resources.