ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — State Insurance Superintendent John Franchini was selected Wednesday to remain as New Mexico's top insurance regulator when his office becomes an independent governmental agency next month.
A nine-member committee named Franchini to serve as insurance superintendent for a term that starts July 1 and expires Dec. 31, 2015.
Franchini has managed the state Insurance Division in the Public Regulation Commission since August 2010. However, voters approved a constitutional amendment last year to remove oversight of the insurance industry from the five-member elected PRC, which in the past selected the insurance superintendent.
The newly independent office will regulate insurance rates and policies.
A state law established a committee, with its members appointed by the governor and Legislature, to hire the superintendent of insurance. The panel also can fire the regulator for incompetence, willful neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
Franchini will be paid $101,000 a year.
