Iowa Insurers Caught Like Deer in Headlights by Levy Request

DES MOINES, Iowa–A group of Iowa politicians wants the insurance industry to impose a levy on automobile policies to help fund a program to thin deer populations and decrease accidents they cause.

Sen. Dennis Black (D-Newton) and other members of the House and Senate Natural Resources committees met with insurance industry officials on earlier this month. Some asked that the industry commit funding to the state’s “Help Us Stop Hunger” program.

The HUSH program, administered through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, allows hunters to donate deer carcasses to Iowa’s food banks and prisons.

Black, co-chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, said a 10-cent levy on the insurance policies of 3.9 million vehicles and trailers insured in Iowa would help the DNR and other agencies coordinate hunters and recruit participating meat lockers to boost to 5,000 the number of deer turned over to the HUSH program.

Insurance industry officials weren’t convinced Black’s proposal was the best way to help create safer roads and curb deer-car accidents. Some said the proposal amounts to a tax on insurers.

“I’m not sure that it’s safe to say right now that anybody in the industry would be keen about that,” said Bob Skow, executive director for the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa.

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Topics Carriers Market Iowa