DELAWARE GOVERNMENT LEADERS ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO HELP AAA MID-ATLANTIC KEEP JOBS AT NEWARK CALL CENTER

Amendment to Insurance Code Will Allow AAA Employees to Continue Marketing to Virginia Customers

Wilmington - Delaware government leaders announced today that they would be asking the General Assembly to pass legislation in June designed to assist AAA Mid-Atlantic make the maximum possible use of its Newark, Delaware call center.  The legislation will create a new type of automobile club license in Delaware’s insurance code, which AAA’s Newark employees must have in order to service their customers in the State of Virginia.

        The bi-partisan amendment to the Delaware Insurance Code was drafted with the assistance of Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn’s office, and is being sponsored by Representative Donna Stone and Senator Patricia Blevins, the chairs of the House Economic Development, Banking, and Insurance Committee and the Senate Insurance Committee.

        The State of Virginia requires persons selling or upgrading AAA memberships to its residents to be licensed to do so in the state from which they are calling.  Currently, Delaware does not have a specific license for the sale of automobile club memberships.  The legislation proposed today would create such a license, and thereby allow AAA’s Delaware call center employees to get the necessary licensure to do business by phone with Virginia residents, without having to qualify for and receive a traditional Delaware insurance agent’s license. 

        AAA Mid-Atlantic’s call center in Newark is expected to employ approximately 400 people, in addition to the approximately 350 who are expected to work in AAA’s new corporate headquarters at the Wilmington Riverfront.

        “In Delaware, every government office has to be part of our economic development effort,” Commissioner Denn said.  “One of our primary advantages in attracting business to Delaware is the ability of our elected and appointed officials to work together, in a speedy and bi-partisan fashion, to address reasonable requests from members of our business community.  This legislation is a good example of that process.”

        Judy McKinney-Cherry, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, thanked Representative Stone and Senator Blevins for their assistance in seeking enactment of the auto club licensure statute.  “It sends a great message to our business community-present and future--when the chairs of our House and Senate Insurance Committees step up and take responsibility for helping one of our most important corporate citizens keep jobs here,” she said. 

       
“This legislation is evidence that Delaware will support businesses when they decide to re-locate here. It reaffirms that Delaware not only wants to attract businesses like AAA, but once they arrive, the state will work with them so that they can do business as they hoped and intended,” said Ron Kosh, Vice-President, Public and Government Affairs of AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Senator Blevins emphasized the importance of retaining jobs in Delaware and attracting new ones during uncertain economic times.  “I expect this bill to receive widespread support,” Senator Blevins said, “because the bottom line is that it is about retaining and attracting good jobs to our state.”  Representative Stone pointed out that the insurance and banking industries were an important part of Delaware’s economy.  “It is not an accident that the committee I chair is called the Economic Development, Banking, and Insurance Committee,” she said.  “Banking and insurance are critical components of our economic development efforts here in Delaware, and this amendment to our insurance code to help AAA is one more example of how they are intertwined.”

        AAA Mid-Atlantic serves 3.5 million members through 60 offices in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and Virginia.  It is one of the five largest AAA clubs in the United States.  AAA Mid-Atlantic offers its members roadside assistance service, travel, licensing, titling, insurance, and financial services (including credit cards and home and car loans).