The property-casualty industry remains deeply split over regulatory reform and will deliver conflicting messages on Capitol Hill as Congress resumes debate on the hot-button issue--this time with increased urgency in the wake of 2008's financial meltdown, led by troubles at American International Group.

Deciding how financial services will be regulated will be the most important legislative issue in 2009, insurance officials agree, in what promises to be a busy year for Washington lobbyists, with the federal government controlled by Democrats for the first time since 1995.

With the new Congress convening on Jan. 6, and Barack Obama set to be sworn in as president two weeks later, "there is no shortage of issues that we will have to deal with," warned David Sampson, president and CEO of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America--with extension of the expiring National Flood Insurance Program perhaps the most pressing short-term problem. (See accompanying story.)

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