WASHINGTON–The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Office, Ltd., said today that two congressmen had agreed to reintroduce legislation to reform and modernize surplus lines and reinsurance industry regulation, and they hope the Senate will follow suit.
NAPSLO officials said the bill, the Non-Admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2009, would be introduced soon by Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., and Rep Scott Garrett, R-N.J., hopefully before Congress leaves on a one-week President's Day recess later this week.
According to other industry officials, introduction has been delayed by the rush of work at the House Office of Legislative Counsel, which writes all legislation introduced in that body.
"We believe that the bill would make the surplus lines marketplace more efficient by facilitating the payment of surplus lines premium taxes and eliminating unnecessary duplicative compliance requirements on surplus lines multi-state risks," said NAPSLO President John Wood.
The bill would be similar to legislation that passed the House in each of the last two Congresses.
The bill was also the subject of a hearing in the Senate Banking Committee last September.
The bill is, in part, aimed at making access to the surplus lines market more efficient for consumers and the brokers and agents who assist them. In addition the bill could help standardize state regulations facing the industry, NAPSLO officials said.
"We believe that once this legislation is enacted it will help provide needed uniformity and consistency in insurance regulation at the state level," said NAPSLO Executive Director Richard Bouhan.
"The problems with financial regulation uncovered last fall were not at the state level and this bill will only improve state regulation of insurance," he said.
The bill would establish national standards for how states regulate the surplus lines market and reinsurance, and would create a uniform system of surplus lines premium tax allocation and remittance, one-state compliance on multi-state surplus lines risks, and direct access to the surplus lines market for sophisticated commercial purchasers.
"These are concepts long endorsed by NAPSLO and promoted with members of Congress during meetings over the past few years," Mr. Bouhan said.
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