House Financial Services Subcommittee Approves Three Regulatory Measures

On Wednesday, July 9, 2008, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, Chaired by Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA), approved the following three insurance regulatory measures:

• H.R. 5840, the Insurance Information Act of 2008 – Establishing the Office of Insurance Information within the Department of the Treasury.
• H.R. 5792, the Increasing Insurance Coverage Options for Consumers Act of 2008 – Amending the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986 to cover risk retention groups offering commercial property insurance and applying the exemption of purchasing groups from state law to commercial property insurance.
• H.R. 5611, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2008 – Re-establishing the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers for the purpose of providing a mechanism through which licensing, continuing education and other insurance producer qualification requirements and conditions can be adopted and applied on a multi-state basis while preserving states' rights to license, supervise and discipline insurance producers.

Each of these bills was reported favorably by a voice vote and can be taken up by the full Committee or sent directly to the House floor for full consideration.

The Committee's approval of these three insurance regulatory measures follows the House passage of H.R. 1065, the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act, in June 2007. H.R. 1065 is awaiting action in the Senate.