State insurance regulators said at their meeting last week that they are working with Congress to come up with language they can agree on for creation of a federal Office of Insurance Information.
The update on the OII proposal came at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners session in Chicago and was raised as part of a broader overview of bills that Kansas City, Mo.-based NAIC is tracking, according to interviews with insurance commissioners.
Roger Sevigny, NAIC president-elect and New Hampshire insurance commissioner, said the NAIC continues to work with Congress so that it could lend its support to the OII proposal.
As of Aug. 22, he said the NAIC was working with Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., and his staff to reach accord on language that defines an "agreement" in the bill, H.R. 5840.
State regulators view that definition as important because it would limit the federal sector to its current control of international agreements and not impinge on areas of state regulation.
On another federal legislative topic Mr. Sevigny reiterated the NAIC's "vehement" opposition to legislation proposing an optional federal charter for insurers.
Mr. Sevigny detailed some of the other issues that were discussed during the meeting, including review of the first draft of the 2009 NAIC budget–which he says does not have a large increase over the 2008 budget.
Mr. Sevigny said the search for a new NAIC executive vice-president and chief executive officer to replace Catherine Weatherford, who resigned last month, was discussed and that there are two search firms being considered to find a replacement.
The search process, he said, could take three-to-six months. No interviews for a replacement have been conducted and currently an effort is being made to determine what the NAIC membership requires in a new CEO, he added.
Ms. Weatherford, it was announced last week, has taken a post with NAVA Inc., a trade group that represents life insurance and annuity firms.
Susan Voss, Iowa insurance commissioner and NAIC secretary-treasurer, said, "We want to make sure that we absolutely make the right choice." Once a search firm is chosen, commissioners will be asked for their input. Right now there are diverse opinions over what qualifications a replacement should have, she added.
The issue also included a discussion of a limited number of staff as well as the new CEO being relocated to Washington, Commissioner Voss related. If that occurs, NAIC operations would remain in Kansas City, she said.
Mr. Sevigny, in response to a question, said he believes that policy guidelines adopted by the NAIC in March 2008 are adequate to address conflict-of-interest issues raised by consumer groups.
In a letter last week consumer representatives said the NAIC needed to draft conflict-of-interest rules to govern members who leave state service to enter private industry regulated by the NAIC. The letter followed news that Alabama Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell, a former NAIC president, would accept a lobbying position with Swiss Re.
The NAIC guidelines Mr. Sevigny referred to are online at HYPERLINK "http://www.naic.org/documents/about_conflict_of_interest_policy.pdf"http://www.naic.org/documents/about_conflict_of_interest_policy.pdf.
He said the NAIC has no authority to enforce those guidelines and all commissioners are accountable to their own state's ethics laws.
Commissioner Voss reiterated those comments and noted that commissioners at the NAIC spent a lot of time developing the ethics guideline. She said she has "no intention of working for industry" once she does decide to leave office.
And, Ms. Voss added, ethics guidelines currently are being developed for consumer representatives whose attendance at NAIC sessions is partially funded by the NAIC.
Birny Birnbaum, an NAIC-funded consumer rep, said that ideas are being discussed, but at this point there is nothing substantive developed.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.