The Mississippi Insurance Department was created as a separate
department by an Act of the Mississippi Legislature, effective March
1, 1902. The Act provided for the election of an Insurance
Commissioner at the general election of 1903 and provided that until
the election and qualification of such Insurance Commissioner, the
duties of the office should be discharged by the State Auditor of
Public Accounts.
Honorable W. Q. Cole was the State Auditor at the time and was elected without
opposition in the 1903 election as the first Insurance
Commissioner. This was fitting, since Mr. Cole was largely
responsible for writing the law and for its passage. Until then
Mississippi had few laws affecting insurance and such matters as
came up in the nature of insurance were handled by the State
Auditor. Mr. Cole had recognized the need for laws governing
insurance and a separate department and he had worked toward
obtaining them. At his own expense, he went to New York, South
Carolina, Virginia and other states and studied the Insurance
Departments’ and their laws. He selected what he considered the
best features of each. Mr. Cole administered the law as State
Auditor from its passage in March 1902 until he opened the State
Insurance Department in January 1904.
After the passage
of the insurance law, more companies began to enter the State of
Mississippi. The earliest biennial report of the Insurance
Department on file in the office is for the period from October 1,
1903, to March 1, 1905. It reports 126 insurance companies licensed
in Mississippi as of March 1, 1904, and 184 as of March 1, 1905. It
reports that the total amount collected by the department and turned
into the State Treasury for that period was $217,844.57.
Those who have served as Commissioner of Insurance are:
There have been many additions to the insurance laws since those of 1902. Each
Legislature has passed some laws enlarging the scope of the
Commissioner’s authority and consequently, increasing his duties and
responsibilities. The Countersignature or Resident Agents’ Law
requiring policies of every kind, except life insurance, to be
countersigned by licensed resident agents was passed by the
Legislature in 1916. The Act creating the Board known as the
Insurance Commission and providing for the organization and
operation of the Fire and Rating Bureau was passed by the
Legislature in 1924. The Act creating the Insurance Commission
Board was repealed in 1987 to take effect January 1, 1988. The
Legislature of 1928 brought the burial insurance business under the
supervision of the Insurance Department. This started as a small
business and has now grown until there are approximately 300 burial
associations doing business in the State.
What could probably
be considered the next major law affecting insurance was the Act
passed in 1946 providing for the regulation of casualty rates and
rating organizations which had long been advocated by former
Commissioners. The Legislature of 1948 passed another law which the
former Commissioners and the insurance agents had tried several
times to get through the Legislature. This was the Fire and
Casualty Agent’s Qualification Law. Subsequently, the Legislature
of 1960 passed a law requiring written examinations to be given to
agents writing life, health and accident coverage.
The Commissioner of Insurance is elected to a four-year term and may be re-elected. The
Commissioner is charged with execution of all laws relative to
insurance companies, corporations, associations and fraternal
orders, their agents and adjusters. The duties of the Insurance
Commissioner are varied and are both administrative and regulatory.
The Commissioner is also the State Fire Marshal and directs the
investigation of all fires of a suspicious nature. Through the
State Fire Marshal Division, the Commissioner administers the
Mississippi Fire Prevention Code. The Commissioner, through the
Fire Service Development Division, established guidelines, use and
accountability for municipal and county fire protection funds. The
Commissioner administers the Liquefied Compressed Gas Equipment Law
and enforces the National Fire Protection Association Code. The
Commissioner of Insurance serves on numerous boards and Associations.
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