Advocacy

As the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer, Allstate has an opportunity and obligation to speak out on important policy issues that affect our customers, our society and our company. In fact, our company has a proud heritage of advocating important societal changes. In the 1960s, the company helped convince the government to make seat belt use mandatory; and in the 1970s and '80s, Allstate played an instrumental role in advocating the safety benefits of airbags. Most recently, Allstate has been an active voice in the efforts to reduce teen driving crashes and create a better way for the country to handle mega-catastrophes.

Defining Our Advocacy Agenda

Advocacy-using our leadership position to take a stand on behalf of our customers and consumers in general-is fundamental to our progress as an enterprise. The economic, environmental and social value we create is often defined by the regulatory and policy boundaries within which we operate. Having a voice in determining those boundaries, therefore, is of interest to all Allstate stakeholders. Specifically, we choose to build our advocacy campaign on issues regarding driver safety (particularly teens), automotive safety, catastrophe preparedness, modernization of insurance regulation and many other issues of importance to Allstate and our customers and stakeholders.

Lobbying and Our Advocacy Team

Allstate has dedicated legislative and regulatory lobbyists in each of its 14 business regions, as well as an elected officer in Washington D.C. to represent our policy agenda in the nation’s capital.

ProtectingAmerica.org

We believe America needs to be better prepared for the risk of natural catastrophe, including growing natural catastrophe risk that may be associated with climate change. Preparing and protecting America from catastrophe is larger than Allstate and even larger than the insurance industry. That's why Allstate is a founding member of a coalition called ProtectingAmerica.org, which encourages collaboration between local, state and federal governments, consumers and the private sector. Since 2005, ProtectingAmerica.org has been working to advance a comprehensive, integrated solution to deal more effectively and efficiently with mega-catastrophes.

Since its formation, ProtectingAmerica.org has achieved several important milestones in which Allstate has played a key role, including:

• Building a coalition consisting of more than 300 member organizations, including emergency management officials, first responders, catastrophe relief experts, large and small businesses, nonprofit organizations and insurers;
• Raising awareness, supplying information to hundreds of media outlets and other public information sources;
• Educating policymakers across the country;
• Appearing before numerous legislative and related committees at the state and national levels; and
• Helping to craft and advance specific legislative proposals that will advance this cause.

Additionally, a senior member of Allstate's law and regulation department serves as national director of ProtectingAmerica.org, working with the co-chairmen of the coalition, James Lee Witt, former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, and Admiral James Loy, former Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Allstate and ProtectingAmerica.org achieved a major milestone in November 2007 when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Homeowners Defense Act, a bill that would help to create a public-private partnership to address the impact of large natural catastrophes. In May 2009, the successor Homeowners' Defense Act of 2009 was introduced. This legislation would create a privately funded national backstop that would stand behind state catastrophe funds like the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and provide a stable and predictable source of coverage so that homeowners can repair, rebuild and recover in the aftermath of massive hurricanes, earthquakes and other catastrophic events. The bill also would fund prevention and mitigation efforts to better prepare for catastrophic events. We expect the bill to be introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2009.

Safe Driving

Allstate insures one out of every nine vehicles in the United States. For these customers and for the public, we promote safe driving through several different highly visible activities, including advertising, public relations, public policy advocacy and philanthropy—as well as through product features such as safe-driving discounts. Teen driving is of particular concern. Motor vehicle crashes are the number-one cause of death for teens in America. This represents a chronic public health issue that has yet to find a high enough place on the national public health agenda. Allstate and The Allstate Foundation are committed to identifying and implementing new approaches to raise awareness of this issue and ultimately, help lower the number of teen driving fatalities and injuries. We’ve also developed a whole set of teen driving online tools and resources.

Additionally, Allstate supports the creation of federal graduated driver licensing (GDL) standards that reflect sound research on how best to reduce teen driving crashes. Today's patchwork system of varying state teen driving laws fails to fully include all of the proven elements of reliable behind-the-wheel training for young drivers. A comprehensive GDL approach will change that.

Each year Allstate publishes and promotes its "Allstate America's Best Drivers Report™," which ranks America's 200 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency to identify which cities have the safest drivers. The report was created to boost the country's discussion on safe driving. It is our goal to educate drivers across the country, and hope the top-ranking cities can serve as examples to the rest of the nation for helping to keep America's roadways safer. To view this year's Best Drivers report please visit media.allstate.com.

Federal Regulation for Insurance

We need to protect America's economic future for the good of all. To do that effectively, we need bold regulatory reform for the entire financial industry, including insurance. Allstate's position is that a more comprehensive system of regulatory oversight will increase transparency and ensure long-term stability of our capital markets. We believe that regulatory reform should reflect a collaborative approach among industry, the public sector and consumers. Together, we can incorporate the lessons from the nation's economic crisis, restore confidence to our economy and help hard-working everyday Americans meet their financial goals.

Allstate supports the National Insurance Consumer Protection Act sponsored by Reps. Melissa Bean (D-IL) and Ed Royce (R-CA) as a means to give regulators and insurers the ability to better protect and serve consumers and to compete with other financial services companies. A federal charter will modernize and strengthen solvency regulation by addressing all aspects of an insurer's financial condition.

Political Contribution Policy

In recognition of the fact that political issues are important and affect Allstate and its business operations every day, Allstate is committed to participating in the political process in a responsible way that is in the best interests of Allstate, its stockholders and its customers.

Corporate Contributions

Allstate and its employees participate in the political process by making financial contributions to elected officials who share our belief in maintaining a competitive marketplace. Our Board of Directors has developed a policy on political contributions for the company, which can be found on the Corporate Governance portion of our Web site.

ALLPAC Contributions

Allstate also maintains a political action committee known as ALLPAC (Allstate Insurance Company Political Action Committee). This is a voluntary program, funded by a segment of Allstate employees. Historically, ALLPAC contributes to officials and candidates representing both major parties. In the 2007-2008 election cycle, ALLPAC contributed $860,830 to 951 candidates.