PIA Executive Vice President & CEO Len Brevik along with Director of State Affairs David Eppstein participated in the annual meeting of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators November 9-12 in Napa Valley, California. 

During the Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Insurance Legislation meeting, chaired by Senator Pamela Redfield of Nebraska, Representative George Keiser of North Dakota introduced a Model State Uniform Building Code.

PIA has long advocated for strong uniform building codes. PIA National Executive Vice President and CEO Len Brevik participated in a panel discussion entitled “Reassessing State Building Codes: Mitigation and Enforcement” during NCOIL’s Spring meeting earlier this year. NCOIL will vote on a model building codes law at its Spring meeting in Savannah. The Subcommittee also discussed the joint NCOIL-NAIC Mega-Catastrophe Plan, noting that discussions continue and changes will be reflected in time for the NAIC winter meeting in San Antonio.

What It Means to Agents:  We are pleased to see all of this effort result in a model code. The model act provides for a single, unified state building code and establishes a Building Code Commission. Local governments will have the authority to enforce the code and may enact more stringent requirements, but not less. In addition to calling for strong building codes, PIA had insisted that these codes be enforced and we are therefore pleased to see included in the model sections for enforcement and penalties.

Other NCOIL committee actions:

The State-Federal Relations Committee, chaired by Representative Craig Eiland of Texas, heard an update on optional federal charter legislation, the proposed nonadmitted and reinsurance reform act of 2006, SMART and McCarran-Ferguson. NCOIL and PIA remain steadfast in opposition to optional federal charter proposals. 

The committee noted that the change in Congress could mean more action on these items, noting past interest from some key legislators in more federal involvement in the regulation of insurance.  Perhaps the silver lining of this “increased interest” on Capitol Hill in insurance is that there may be more of a willingness to extend the TRIA program without substantially weakening it.

The Financial Services and Investment Products Committee, chaired by Representative Brian Kennedy of Rhode Island, filling in for Representative Joe Hune, of Michigan, discussed the application of Sarbanes-Oxley to privately held companies and reiterated their opposition to doing so. The Committee then reauthorized NCOIL’s Identity Theft Protection Model Act, noting the increasing public awareness of identity theft and the need for legislators to stay ahead on this issue.

November 14, 2006