Congress would be required to re-vote several years down theroad on whether to sustain enactment of legislation creating aclearinghouse aimed at streamlining agent licensing, according toSenate legislation.

An agreement by the Senate leadership clearing the way for avote today or Wednesday on legislation reauthorizing the TerrorismRisk Insurance Act (TRIA) for seven years allows a vote on anamendment that will establish the National Association ofRegistered Agents and Brokers (NARAB).

However, as the price for allowing the amendment to be added,Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., insisted that a provision be includedsunsetting NARAB two years after enactment.

Sen. John Tester, D-Montana, is sponsoring the NARAB amendmentto the TRIA bill.

According to an industry lobbyist, Coburn last week threatenedto hold up the entire TRIA bill if NARAB was offered.

The lobbyist said that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., negotiatedwith Tester and Coburn and came up with a two-year sunset. But the clock on the sunset won't start ticking until the firstlicense is issued, the lobbyist said. Moreover, the lobbyist said,it will probably take two years to get the program up andrunning.

An industry lawyer familiar with the bill said the requirementof the sunset provision is not necessarily fatal to theprogram.

Another official said, “Certainly it is our hope that the Houseand the Senate will ultimately agree, and NARAB will be createdwithout a sunset.”

But this official added, “This agreement ensures that NARAB willbe attached to the Senate [TRIA] bill, just as we now haveassurances that NARAB will be attached to the House bill.”

The lawyer added, “Getting it up and running is the importantthing. Once it gets going, it will prove itself.”

Indeed, another lobbyist said, “There is very strong,bipartisan, bicameral support for NARAB.”

The overall bill is S. 2244, the Terrorism Risk InsuranceProgram Reauthorization Act of 2014.

The bill extends the TRIA program in its current form for sevenyears, but does increase industry co-shares by one-third under afive-year phase-in period.

Legislation creating NARAB was reported out by the HouseFinancial Services Committee without the sunset provision June 20.The House bill including establishment of NARAB is H. R. 4871, theTRIA Reform Act of 2014.

The NARAB legislation is modeled after the National Associationof Securities Dealers (NASD). On a purely voluntary basis, agentsand brokers can apply to NARAB for membership. Upon meeting theNARAB criteria, they can use the agency essentially as a “passport”system for multi-state licensure. NARAB's membership criteria willbe established by a board that is dominated by state insurancecommissioners.

“The big concession we've made is on governance—that a majorityof the governance has to come from state insurance commissioners,”one lobbyist involved said.