As lawmakers arrive back in Springfield this week for the Fall Veto Session, State Treasurer Mike Frerichs is pushing for the House and Senate to act on his life insurance benefits bill. The measure requires life insurers to match their records dating back to 2000 against the federal death master file to make sure all benefits due have been paid out. It also lets the state use private auditors to inspect a company’s files. Governor Bruce Rauner nixed that part, which Treasurer Frerichs says is a mistake.
Frerichs has been working on the issue in recent years, after finding some death benefits were never paid out to family members.