Telles v. Commissioner of Insurance

*561Nolan, J.

Today we are asked to decide whether the Commissioner of Insurance (commissioner) may lawfully issue regulations which prohibit life insurers from considering gender-based mortality differences in the underwriting of life insurance.2 We hold that the commissioner is not authorized to promulgate the regulations in question, as they are in direct conflict with several statutes which expressly permit the very type of risk classification involved in this case.

Effective September 1, 1988, the commissioner issued regulations prohibiting a life insurer from considering gender-based…