Executive Order  No. 18: (1st Series) Authorizing state commissioner of insurance to issue licenses to insurers to participate in Federal War Department Insurance Rating Plan

WHEREAS, it is important that the cost of prosecuting the existing war by the Government of the United States be reduced wherever possible; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States has made and expects to make many "Cost plus a Fixed Fee" contracts, so called, for the construction of cantonments and industrial plants, the production of war materials, and other projects incidental to the prosecution of the said war; and

WHEREAS, the cost of necessary insurance in connection with the performance of the said contracts is to be borne by the Government of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Government of the United States, through the War Department, has requested that certain insurance companies lawfully transacting business in this Commonwealth be permitted to issue policies of insurance in accordance with a certain plan sponsored by the said War Department and referred to as the "War Department Insurance Rating Plan"; and

WHEREAS, all of the said qualified insurance companies have expressed their willingness to afford insurance coverage in accordance with said "War Department Insurance Rating Plan"; and

WHEREAS, the said "War Department Insurance Rating Plan" contains certain features which are not in conformity with the requirements of existing law in this Commonwealth:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, sections 2 (9) and 3, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and any foreign country.

The Commissioner of Insurance of the Commonwealth, upon request by the Government of the United States, or by any department or agency thereof, may permit any insurance company lawfully transacting business in this Commonwealth to conform with and to issue insurance policies in accordance with the said "War Department Insurance Rating Plan" in connection with "Cost plus a Fixed Fee" contracts on projects whose cost is borne by the Government of the United States or by any agency thereof.

Such permission may be given by the Commissioner in each instance subject to such rules and regulations and subject to such modifications of said "War Department Insurance Rating Plan" as he may prescribe from time to time. The provisions of General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter 152, sections 52, 52A and 53, and chapter 175, sections 12, 80, 90, 113B, 182, 183 and 184, shall not be deemed to prohibit or otherwise affect any action permitted by the Commissioner pursuant to this order.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty- two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-sixth.

By His Excellency the Governor,
LEVERETT SALTONSTALL

FREDERIC W. COOK,
Secretary of the Commonwealth