NAPSLO Applauds Passage of Surplus Lines Bill

NAPSLO applauded Wednesday’s passage of the Non-Admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2006 (H.R. 5637) by the U.S. House of Representatives and expressed optimism that a Senate sponsor of the bill will be found and that the Senate will consider the bill.

“This is an important milestone toward ultimately improving the operation and regulation of the surplus lines market,” said NAPSLO President William Newton. “And a step that NAPSLO has been working on for several years with members of Congress. We are pleased to see that many of the critical items that NAPSLO first raised in meetings with House members and staff were part of the final bill approved by the House.”

The legislation is in part aimed at making access to the surplus lines market more efficient for consumers and the brokers and agents who assist them.

“Insurance consumers are indebted to Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite (FL) and Dennis Moore (KS) who introduced the bill in June,” said NAPSLO Executive Director Richard Bouhan. “If enacted into law, this legislation will help ease the insurance crisis in states still suffering from the impact of natural disasters.”

H.R. 5637 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 two years.

H.R. 5637 was approved Wednesday evening by a vote of 417-0. The bill has not been introduced in the Senate and NAPSLO and its Washington, D.C. representative, Maria Berthoud of B&D Consulting, is working on securing a Senate sponsor.

“We are hopeful that a sponsor will be found and that the Senate will consider the bill this year,” said Ms. Berthoud. “We believe the bill includes a number of items that will improve the way the insurance industry operates and will also benefit consumers.”