MARYLAND AUTOMOBILE
INSURANCE FUND

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Chairperson: Arthur L. Forbus

Appointed by the Governor: Rita A. Baikauskas,
Gerald H. Cooper, August A. Krometis, Wil-
liam H. Ross III, John L. Ryan.

Appointed by the Board of Directors of the In-
dustry Automobile Insurance Association: Nor-
man E. Biler, Harold Covey, Thomas M.
Mahar, Wallace H. Smith, Stacy L. Williams.

THE AGENCY

Arthur L. Forbus, Executive Director
Vincent H. Howley, Deputy Executive Director

Morgan S. Anderson, Jr., Director of Fiscal Oper-
ations

W. Gary Sullivan, Director of Administration
Edward J. Muhl, Director of Claims
W. R. Roszell, Director of Underwriting

David C. Trageser, Director of Management Plan-
ning

1750 Forest Drive
Annapolis 21401 Telephone: 269-1680

The Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund
(MAIF) was created by Chapter 73, Acts of
1972, to replace the Maryland Automobile Insur-
ance Plan and the Unsatisfied Claim and Judg-
ment Fund (UCJF).

By Chapter 241, Acts of 1976, the Fund is
governed by an eleven-member Board of Trustees.
The Chairperson of the Board is, ex officio, the
Executive Director of the Maryland Automobile
Insurance Fund. The Board was created to advise
the Executive Director with respect to his exercise
of the powers and duties conferred on him by this

Independent Agencies/307

subtitle and to formulate policy for the Fund.
The Executive Director is the administrative head
of MAIF and is its chief executive officer. He is
responsible for the exercise of all duties conferred
on the Fund, except those reserved to the Board
of Trustees. The first Executive Director was
appointed by the Governor. Future vacancies oc-
curring in the office of the Executive Director will
be filled by the Board of Trustees. The incumbent
Executive Director cannot vote on the selection
of his successor, and if the Board fails to agree on
the successor the Governor shall appoint him.

Five members of the Board are appointed by
the Governor with the advice and consent of the
Senate and serve at his pleasure. Five members
are appointed by the Board of Directors of the
Industry Automobile Insurance Association in ac-
cordance with Code 1957, Article 48A, sec. 243M
(Chapter 241, Acts of 1976).

The MAIF is not part of any department of
the State government, but rather is an indepen-
dent body directly under the Governor. It per-
forms two basic functions: one, to assume the
role of the former UCJF and process and pay
claims against uninsured motorists; and two, to
sell policies of automobile liability insurance to
those Maryland residents who have been rejected
by at least two private insurers or who have had
a policy of automobile liability insurance can-
celled or non-renewed for any reason other than
non-payment of premiums. With respect to the
second function, MAIF acts as any private insur-
ance company and is subject to regulation by the
Insurance Commissioner.

Effective July 1, 1979, every owner of a motor
vehicle registered in this State must maintain the
basic required primary coverage of $20,000/
$40,000 bodily injury, $10,000 property damage,
and $2,500 economic loss coverage. The advent of
such compulsory insurance should serve to reduce
substantially the number of uninsured claims.
However, it is not expected that they will disap-
pear completely. There will be hit and run acci-
dents, out-of-state uninsured drivers, and Mary-
landers who will not comply with the law. For
that reason the UCJF function has been retained.

The MAIF receives no general funds from the
State of Maryland and its assets are not part of
the Treasury of the State. As a result MAIF is
not subject to the normal budgetary review pro-
cedures. The reasons for this broad exemption
were noted in oral testimony before the House
Appropriations Committee. The testimony sum-
marized the statutory operational environment
that created first, difficulty in estimating what