Executive Order  No. 37: (1st Series) Authorizing certain motor vehicle insurance refunds to motor vehicle owners

WHEREAS, a decline in the number and severity of motor vehicle accidents has resulted from the decreased use and slower operation of motor vehicles, caused by the rationing of gasoline and automobile tires and the new speed laws, so that the premium charge for liability and casualty policies and bonds covering the use and operation of motor vehicles in the year 1942, fixed and established according to law at a time when such decline could not have been anticipated, have proved to be greater than the risks in fact assumed required; and

WHEREAS, all the insurance and surety companies that have is- sued or executed in Massachusetts liability or casualty policies or bonds covering the use and operation of motor vehicles, for the year 1942, or any part thereof, have expressed a willingness to make at this time certain refunds of portions of premiums paid for such policies and bonds; and

WHEREAS, existing provisions of law prohibit the refund of any portion of the premium paid for liability or casualty policies or bonds covering the use and operation of motor vehicles; and

WHEREAS, A refund before January 1, 1943, of a portion of the premium paid for liability or casualty policies or bonds covering the use and operation of motor vehicles in 1942, may induce owners of motor vehicles that are used in, or available for use in, war or civilian defense transportation, to register their vehicles in 1943 from January 1 rather than from a later date; and

WHEREAS, an increasing number of owners of motor vehicles from this Commonwealth will be entering the armed forces and departing for distant places and may thereby become unavailable to receive and have the full benefit of any refund unless such refund is made forthwith:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, Chapter 719, 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 war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

Such insurance companies as have issued in Massachusetts any liability or casualty policies covering the use and operation of motor vehicles, including motor vehicle liability policies as defined by General Laws (Ter. Ed.) c. 90, s34A, for the year 1942, or any part thereof, to owners of motor vehicles or trailers registered or operated under General Laws (Ter. Ed.) c. 90, ss 1A-5, may be authorized by the Commissioner of Insurance to refund to the holders of said policies portions of the premiums paid for any or all of the coverages included in said policies: provided, that the Commissioner shall establish for this purpose fair and reasonable classifications of policyholders, and shall authorize a refund of a portion of the premium paid for any of the coverages included in said policies, only if all said insurance companies that have issued policies furnishing such coverage participate and refund the same percentage of premium paid for such coverage to all policy- holders in the same classification.

Such surety companies as have executed in Massachusetts any liability bonds covering the use and operation of motor vehicles, including motor vehicle liability bonds as defined by General Laws (Ter. Ed.) c. 90, s 34A, for the year 1942, or any part thereof, for owners of motor vehicles or trailers registered or operated under General Laws (Ter. Ed.) c. 90, ss 1A-5, may be authorized by the Commissioner of Insurance to refund to the obligors on said bonds portions of the premiums paid for any or all of the coverages included in said bonds: provided, that the Commissioner shall establish for this purpose fair and reasonable classifications of obligors, and shall authorize a refund of a portion of the premium paid for any of the coverages included in said bonds, only if all said surety companies that have executed bonds furnishing such coverage participate and re- fund the same percentage of premium paid for such coverage to all obligors in the same classification. All refunds made under the provisions of this Order shall be made in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the Commissioner and filed in his office. Nothing contained in General Laws (Ter. Ed.) c. 175, ss 113B, 182, 183, 184 or in any other provision of law shall be deemed to prohibit or prevent any action authorized by this Order.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this nineteenth day of October, 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-seventh.

By His Excellency the Governor
Leverett Saltonstall

Frederic W. Cook
Secretary of the Commonwealth