The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.
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An Act to establish a working group to assess the risks as a result of global warming. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. The insurance law is amended by adding a new section to read as follows:
Risk assessment of climate change.
(a) The superintendent, in consultation with the commissioner of the department of environmental conservation and such other agencies as may be designated by the governor, shall convene a special working group for the purpose of conducting an insurance risk assessment of the potential consequences of climate change in Massachusetts. To the extent that can be determined from available data, the group shall identify potential sources of insurance loss exposure as a result of climate change in Massachusetts, including but not limited to potential climate change-related health, property and liability insurance losses, and predict measurements of the financial consequences of those losses occurring at five year, ten year, twenty year and fifty year increments from the present. Within one year of the effective date of this section, the group shall report to the governor and legislature on its conclusions, including recommendations for steps that could be taken to minimize the negative impacts of climate change on insurance loss exposure in this state.
(b) The superintendent is hereby authorized to contract with such academic, scientific, research, public interest, government or corporate organizations as the superintendent and the working group deem necessary to achieve the purposes of this section.
This act shall take effect immediately.