NAPSLO Applauds Surplus Lines Reform Bill Approval

The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices -- NAPSLO -- the nation's leading trade association for surplus lines brokers and companies, applauded the passage of the Non-Admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2006 (H.R. 5637), by the House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises and NAPSLO hopes that the next step is swift floor action on the bill.

The Subcommittee passed the bill on Wednesday, sending it to the full committee for review. The bill, introduced by Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite (FL) and Dennis Moore (KS) on June 19, would improve and streamline the regulation of non-admitted insurance and reinsurance. In June, Richard Bouhan, Executive Director and General Counsel for NAPSLO, testified in support of the bill and on Wednesday said he was happy to see the bill moved out of the subcommittee.

“NAPSLO is pleased to see that the HR 5637 has been passed out of the subcommittee and hopes it will be passed by the full committee and Congress,” Mr. Bouhan said. “We believe it is the right bill at the right time. This legislation will bring much-needed relief to the complex and confusing surplus lines regulatory process, and we are grateful that many of NAPSLO's concerns are directly addressed in the bill.”

Many of the bill's provisions, including the creation of a uniform system of premium tax allocation and remittance, uniform standards for producer licenses, one-state compliance on multi-state surplus lines risks, and direct access to the surplus lines market for sophisticated purchasers are concepts long endorsed by NAPSLO.

"We believe that this legislation will significantly increase the level of efficiency for surplus lines insurance, particularly across multiple jurisdictions, for everyone involved in the non-admitted market, from the companies down to the consumers,” Mr. Bouhan said. We appreciate the efforts of Rep. Brown-Waite and Rep. Moore and also Chairman Richard Baker’s leadership on this issue, for making insurance regulatory reform a priority."

A complete copy of Mr. Bouhan’s testimony is available on the Legislation/Regulation section of the NAPSLO website (www.napslo.org), under the NEWS heading.