Next month will see a spate of congressional focus on insuranceregulatory issues as both houses plan some action before departingon an extended summer vacation and returning for a brief fallsession before adjourning to campaign.

Meanwhile, industry officials are voicing hope privately thatCongress, sometime in July, will complete work on legislationreauthorizing and reforming the National Flood InsuranceProgram.

That is because the current authorization for the program runsout Sept. 30, at the end of the current government fiscal year, andmembers of Congress hope to keep the fall session as brief aspossible because it is a presidential election year.

Congress departed today for a July 4th recess and plans toreturn July 7. It will recess for the summer in late July.

Insurance industry representatives say that because of thebacklog of work it is unlikely a formal conference to deal with theflood bill will take place, but there will be "informal back andforth" between the House and Senate over their rival floodbills.

The key issue is that the Senate has made clear it will notaccept a provision in the House bill adding wind coverage to theflood program.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., the primary sponsor of legislationadding wind to the program, addressed the House last night as partof his effort to win support for adding wind to the program. TheHouse bill is H.R. 3121.

However, the Senate, when it took up the issue May 13, votedoverwhelmingly against an amendment adding wind to the program. Thevote was 73-19 against the amendment. The Senate bill is S.2284.

"There will be some quiet back and forth between the Senate andHouse staffers, with adding wind off the table," predicted onelobbyist who asked not to be named. "They'll split somedifferences."

The first order of insurance regulatory business will be in theHouse Financial Services Committee, which plans to take uplegislation creating an insurance information office in theTreasury Department soon after it returns, according to severallobbyists and congressional staffers.

These people say that Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., is reachingout to all interested parties in an effort to develop a compromisethat all insurance interests can support, according to severallobbyists.

The Insurance Information Act of 2008 (H.R. 5840) was introducedApril 14 by Rep. Kanjorski, chairman of the Capital MarketsSubcommittee of the FSC.

He has already drafted a substitute that the NationalAssociation of Insurance Commissioners has said it can support, andRep. Kanjorski is also reaching out to other interested partiesthat have voiced concerns in an effort to determine what changes hecan make so the bill is acceptable to them, according to thesources.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, preparations are underway to hold anumbrella hearing on all insurance regulatory issues in late July inthe Senate Banking Committee.

Among the issues likely to be reviewed are legislation creatingan optional federal charter, the House bill creating an office ofinsurance information within Treasury, and legislation reformingthe nonadmitted and reinsurance markets.

Legislation creating an optional federal charter, S. 40, wasintroduced in 2007 by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Sen. JohnSununu, R-N.H.

The Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act, H.R. 1065, passedthe House unanimously last June. The NAIC is said to be nearingsupport for provisions reforming the surplus lines market, butstill maintains concerns about the reinsurance provisions,according to industry lobbyists.

A similar bill was introduced last year by Sen. Bill Nelson,D-Fla., and Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., but no hearing has as yetbeen held on it.