NU Online News Service, March. 8, 1:01 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON—Legislation that would provide agent-licensing standardization across state lines will be re-introduced in the House within 10 days.

The bill, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act, has passed the House on voice vote twice within the last several years.

It will be sponsored by Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Tex., and Rep. David Scott, D-Ga.

In a statement, Rep. Neugebauer confirmed that he plans to sponsor the bill again.

He said, "This legislation will help reform and modernize a very important part of state insurance regulation: agent and broker licensing."

He said this state-based reform will benefit consumers through increased competition among agents and brokers and lead to greater consumer choice.

"The legislation is straightforward: insurance agents and brokers who are licensed in good standing in their home states can apply for membership to the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers, which will allow them to operate in multiple states," Rep. Neugebauer said.

"Our legislation addresses only market-entry procedures. It would not impact the day-to-day state regulation of insurance, and insurance agents would still be subject to the various consumer-protection laws of the states," he added.

Disclosure that the bill will be re-introduced was made at the spring meeting of the National Council of Insurance Legislators, held in Washington last weekend.

The bill passed the House last March but failed to win support in the Senate.

Officials of both the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America and the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents voiced support.

Charles Symington, IIABA senior vice president for government affairs, explained that "state insurance regulation performed admirably during the recent market crisis."

However, he said, it is in need of modernization and streamlining, particularly in the area of agent licensing.

"This common-sense reform bill to be introduced by subcommittee Chairman Neugebauer and Rep. Scott would streamline the agent-licensing process, leading to a more competitive market that would benefit our small-business owners throughout the country and the consumers they serve," he added.

Mr. Symington said the bill has "tremendous" bipartisan support; it is non-controversial and "has strong support on both sides of the aisle."

David Epstein, a PIA lobbyist, added that PIA supports the legislation because while it is federal legislation, state officials would remain in control of the process.

He said allowing agents to sell across state lines is a major issue for PIA members with customers in more than one state.

The bill would re-establish NARAB as a national, nonprofit corporation to allow for agent-licensing standardization across state lines. Through NARAB, one set of licensing, continuing education and other insurance producer qualification standards can be adopted and applied. Producers would be allowed to conduct business in any state, in any line of insurance they are permitted to in their home state.

NARAB was established under the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to impose uniform regulation if a certain number of states did not agree to comply with its provisions.

However, while the required number of states complied, large states that comprise most of the nation's population did not join, including California, New York, Florida and Washington, hindering the ability of agents to sell across state lines and rekindling interest in a federal law aimed at spurring licensing reciprocity.