NAIC Government Affairs Task Force Holds First Meeting

NAIC Government Affairs Task Force Holds First Meeting

By Michael Ha

Atlanta

Garnering support for state insurance regulation is one of the broader goals of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Government Affairs Task Force, according to one of the groups co-chairs.

“As a former state legislator, I recognize the importance of building a consensus. Building awareness of, and support for, state insurance regulation on a broad level is one of the task forces main goals,” said North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman, who is one of the four co-chairs of the task force.

Mr. Poolman spoke at the task forces inaugural meeting, which took place in Atlanta at the NAICs spring national meeting last week.

The task force, which will renew NAIC member participation in federal and state government relations efforts, plans to develop, coordinate and implement the associations legislative and regulatory agendas.

“This task force was created when NAIC President Mike Pickens looked at the structure of our association and various groups we had to interact with. It became apparent to him that we needed to have a government affairs task force to focus on our relationships with these government groups,” said Task Force Chairman Terri Vaughan during the inaugural meeting, adding that “the task force is not necessarily a policy-setting body.”

“The creation of this task force will consolidate and strengthen our outreach and strategic communications with key decision makers at both the federal and state levels. This group will help us coordinate and manage our resources.”

“We will not remain passive and allow others to determine the future of state regulation,” said Ms. Vaughan, who is also Iowa insurance commissioner and a former NAIC president.

NAIC said the task force will work closely with federal officials, Congress and elected state leaders, including the National Conference of State Legislature, the National Governors Association, and the National Conference of Insurance Legislators.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, March 17, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.