Advocacy

In addition to our volunteer and financial support of philanthropic efforts, Allstate works to support our customers and communities through our advocacy work on policy issues. We highlight below the areas where Allstate has shown leadership to influence policy in the best interest of our communities.

Safe Roads

Each year, an average of 4,000 teens are killed in car crashes in the United States. Allstate has long been a passionate advocate for efforts to prevent these fatalities. We have been a lead supporter of the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection (STANDUP) Act, a federal bill that is designed to save lives by encouraging the adoption of Graduated Driver Licensing laws, and three minimum standards for those laws:

• Three stages of licensing for drivers under the age of 21: Learning drivers, starting at age 16 and lasting at least six months; Intermediate drivers, until age 18 and lasting at least six months; and Unrestricted drivers, after age 18.
• Unsupervised nighttime driving should be restricted during the learning and intermediate stages, until full licensure. Driving while talking on a cell phone or texting should also be prohibited at least until full licensure.
• Passengers should be restricted to no more than one non-familial passenger under the age of 21 unless a licensed driver over age 21 is in the vehicle until the driver receives full licensure.

Graduated driver licensing laws require new young drivers to gain experience under supervised and less risky conditions so they can become responsible and safe drivers. Research has shown these requirements can reduce fatalities by up to 40 percent, and we are pleased to report that the STANDUP Act was voted into law at the end of June 2012.

Protecting Our Community

In 2011, we also continued our support of efforts to prepare the nation to address the significant and growing risk from natural catastrophes. Allstate is a proud supporter of ProtectingAmerica.org, a coalition of private companies, nonprofit organizations and government agencies at the local, state and federal level that are working to develop long-term solutions to better prepare communities and our nation so that they can recover from future natural catastrophes.

ProtectingAmerica.org works to educate the public and policymakers about the risks Americans face from disasters — like recent wildfires, tornadoes, and hurricanes — that are certain to strike again. The coalition also advocates for a public-private partnership to pre-fund the costs of recovery, support creating systems to strengthen building codes to prepare for disasters, provide more robust disaster-recovery and rebuilding funds, and strengthen the ability of first responders to properly help communities react to catastrophe.

Federal Insurance Regulation

Another area of our continued advocacy concerns the modernization of the insurance regulatory system. Because Allstate delivers our services across all 50 states, we currently must track and comply with 50 different sets of regulations. The complexities and expenses inherent in this process limit our ability to develop new products for our customers, so we are working to promote a single, consistent set of rules at the national level that would eliminate unnecessary costs and spur innovation and competition.

For more information on our advocacy efforts, see the Public Policy section of the report.