A New York agents association said it will work with the NewYork State Insurance Department during this legislative session tobring New York's producer licensing requirements in line with otherstates.

The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York said abill to increase an insurance producer's continuing educationrequirements from 15 to 24 credits and add other licensing lines ofauthority was introduced last year at the request of thedepartment.

This would have brought New York requirements in line "with themajority of other states in adopting uniform licensing standards,"IIABNY said.

Jill Muratori, vice president and counsel for BarrettAssociates, IIABNY's legislative representative, said the billwould have also brought pre-licensing requirements in line withother states as well.

She noted the bill did not pass, but that there was no realopposition. She said it hit a "technical snag" and got hung up inthe Assembly Codes Committee.

This year, she said, the department is expected to have asimilar bill reintroduced, and IIABNY said it would like aprovision added that would further align New York with other statesby creating a single producer license, instead of the multiplebroker and agent licenses under the current structure.

Ms. Muratori said the department was receptive to therequest.

But the NYSID made no mention of an intention to add a singleproducer license provision to the bill proposal in a statement sentto NU Online.

Steven Nachman, Deputy Superintendent for Frauds and ConsumerServices, responded to a request for the NYSID's plan for theproposal by stating, "We are working with producer associations,including [IIABNY], to streamline the licensing process. We aretransitioning to a system which, by 2012, will renew licenses ofagents and brokers on their dates of birth, which will providegreater convenience for producers.

"Separately, we have previously proposed, and expect to proposein the coming legislative session, a bill to increase continuingeducation requirements for most producers, and to create limitedlines for producers seeking to sell credit, crop and suretyinsurance. These measures, if adopted, would help to bring New Yorkfurther in line with NAIC [National Association if InsuranceCommissioners] licensing standards.

"We welcome additional discussion with producer groups regardingfurther reforms to the licensing process."

Currently, New York has separate licenses that differentiateagents from brokers, and also lines of business such as life andhealth, property-casualty, and surplus lines, according to EllenKiehl of the Professional Insurance Agents of New York.

Many other states, she said, have one producer license thatcovers all agents and brokers, with the producer specifyingauthorities under that license.

Uniformity for producer licensing has been an NAIC initiativesince the passage of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley FinancialModernization Act of 1999, Ms. Kiehl said.

She said PIANY would not oppose switching to a single producerlicense, as long as fees for licensing stay neutral.

Ms. Muratori said changing to one producer license will helpsimplify the licensing process for agents and brokers, particularlyfor those who do business in multiple states, as they will not haveto keep track of multiple licenses.