A bill intended to streamline the regulation of nonadmitted insurance and reinsurance has been introduced into the Senate. Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) are the sponsors of S.1363, the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act of 2009.
Backers of the bill say it will modernize surplus lines regulation by making the insured’s home state the source of regulation for individual surplus lines transactions and reducing overlapping, multiple-state regulation of ceding insurers.
“By applying single-state regulation and uniform standards to the nonadmitted and reinsurance markets along with giving the state sole regulatory authority, the surplus lines bill will preserve the strengths of the state-based insurance regulatory system without the need to create a federal insurance regulator,” says Tom Koonce, AVP for federal government affairs for the
S.1363 is currently before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Reps. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) and Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) introduced a companion bill into the House in May.
