NU Online News Service, April 18, 12:20 p.m.EST

PHILADELPHIA—Whether it is at a local chapter meeting or in theHalls of Congress, the Risk and Insurance Management Society issetting an ambitious goal to increase its influence over issuesthat affect the world of risk, says the association'spresident.

At RIMS' 50^th annual meeting, President Deborah M.Luthi said during a press conference with RIMS leadership that thegoals of the association will be to strengthen relationships andraise the relevance of the association “to be on the cutting edgeof risk management.”

She says RIMS will accomplish this goal by aiming to increasethe association's profile through the utilization of technology andsocial media.

Politics and compliance risk for the membership will be areas offocus, says Luthi, noting that the association is in the process ofbuilding the tools to be an effective advocate of regulatory issuesin the future.

This is the purpose of RIMS' Political Action Committee thatLuthi says is a bi-partisan vehicle aimed at ensuring “RIMS has aspot at the table and our voice is heard.”

RISK PAC, now in its second year, currentlystands at $28,000 and she says members need to help raise thatfigure. She says risk-management colleagues need to understand thattheir personal contribution to the PAC is how they will have avoice in political affairs.

To that end, RIMS will be holding its RIMS on the Hill day in June.

Dan Kugler, board liaison to RIMS external-affairs committee andassistant treasurer of corporate risk management at Snap-on Inc.noted there are several pieces of federal legislation RIMS has aninterest in and is making its opinion known.

First, the association is working with others to “jump start” areauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program, which isawaiting action in the U.S. Senate.

Another is the Risk Retention and Modernization Act (HR2126) governing captive programs to expand liabilityand include property risks. Kugler says the association is workingto see passage of this bill.

Then there is HR3157 that RIMS opposes, which is bottled up inCongress. That bill, which would “prevent the avoidance of taxthrough reinsurance through non-tax affiliates,” would have theeffect reducing capacity in the insurance industry, Kugler.