A busy crazy week - and it's only been two days

I pretty much figured last week would be pretty slow following cross-over and this week would be a "zoo" so I deferred sending you a report earlier in the week. And yes - this week has been crazy. Now where to start - with the absurd or the good news?

Let's start with the good news! IIAV's proposals on Certificates of Insurance - SB 47 and HB 867 - have received unanimous support by both the House and Senate and will soon be heading to the Governor's office for his signature....hopefully without amendment. I know I've been paranoid throughout this process and while the bills have indeed received unanimous support, we will do everything we can to ensure that the Governor does not amend the bills. Then the work really begins. We have already reached out to the Bureau of Insurance to work with them on helping to educate the agent community on these bills and we'll also have to do something about educating the certificate holder community as well. Any volunteers??? The legislation in and of itself will not solve the problem with certificates - although it will surely help. They will not of course stop companies from asking for everything under the sun and it will be incumbent upon agents primarily to follow the law. We have already seen companies asking for agents to specifically provide notice of cancellation and agencies are going to have to figure out how they are going to respond to these legal but not recommended requests.

Citizens of the Commonwealth can sleep soundly with the passage of the earthquake coverage notice requirements contained in HB 523/SB 369. These administration supported bills certainly came through the legislative sausage machine to be virtually meaningless. If a company doesn't provide earthquake coverage, all they have to state on the policy is that it is "excluded unless purchased by endorsement". If the company writes earthquake coverage then notice needs to be provided for the consumer to "contact their company or agent." It was so interesting to listen to the debate on this bill which was then almost immediately followed by a bill where virtually everyone agreed that consumers don't read their insurance policies.

This week IIAV found ourselves supporting volunteer fire fighters on the one side in opposition to our company partner lobbyists on the other. Responding to a letter from the Attorney General stating that volunteer fire fighters don't have statutory authority to send a bill to homeowners following a fire, HB 1202/SB 140 were introduced solely to allow volunteer fire departments who are "not fully funded by real estate taxes or other property taxes" to bill for their services. These are few and far between. Regardless of the fact that the state's largest homeowners carrier provides such coverage and many others do as well, and that the insurance industry lobbyists supported the bills up to crossover and THEN announced their opposition, they encouraged legislators to defeat HB 1202 in the House Commerce and Labor Committee as it would result in homeowner premium increases throughout the state....and that volunteer fire departments are already receiving adequate resources through the premium tax on homeowner policies for the Fire Program Fund.

Following the surprise announcement that the insurance company lobbyists were going to oppose the measurers, IIAV's Legislative Committee was re-polled and they unanimously voted to support the volunteer fire departments which we did by visiting virtually all members of the House Commerce and Labor Committee and then through testimony. IIAV members would have been proud of Joe Hudgins who spoke plainly and specifically on the minimal impact the measure would have on premiums. SB 140 passed in committee on a 16 to 4 vote. HB 1202 will come up in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee meeting on Monday.

Following another bill - SB 65 would have required nursing homes etc. to publicize not only that they have liability insurance coverage but their limits - gee, I wonder why? This Virginia Trial Lawyers Association sponsored measure was two years in the making and sounded very familiar to the "lazy plaintiff's attorney bill" that we fought so hard against several years ago. The bill passed the Senate and then came to the House Health Welfare and Institutions Committee with the presentation that this was a "compromise bill from all members of the involved community." Committee Chairman Bobby Orrock noted that he was very familiar with compromise bills and "compromise" bills. Following debate and testimony the bill was defeated on a 5 to 17 vote following withering cross examination from two....trial lawyers - Delegates Rob Bell and Joe Morrissey (ok....I know Morrissey lost his law license but he's still a trail lawyer at heart). Interesting turn of events which we greatly supported but we still wondered by insurance companies were not visible in their opposition on this measure specifically.

I could go on....this was the week for interesting testimony which I guess is somewhat natural following crossover. The updated Legislative Table accompanies this report so if you have any questions/thoughts/concerns on any of these bills, just let me know. Please don't hesitate to contact me by e-mail at Rbradshaw@iiav.com or through my cell phone at 804-929-4134.

Crossover

A little more than three weeks to go!

Accompanying this report are Pre-Crossover and Post-Crossover legislative tables. There are "only" 43 pieces of legislation in play at this point that we're keeping a special eye on so we're hoping for a smooth second half of the session.

With crossover starting, IIAV's proposal on certificates from the Senate - SB 47 - comes before the House Commerce and Labor Committee tomorrow. This bill needs to be amended slightly to conform it to our House bill - HB 867 - but our House sponsor; Delegate Rust serves on the House Commerce and Labor Committee so we should receive a good reception.

After the certificate bills, there really don't seem to be that many fall on our sword issues facing us. There are a few that I need to hear presentations on to clarify what the public policy positions are behind them, but we'll continued to be at the legislature working on the bills.

The IIAV Health Insurance Task Force is already at work on providing comments on SB 496 as we want to be absolutely prepared with a bill that we like in case of an adverse Supreme Court decision.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me by e-mail at Rbradshaw@iiav.com or through my cell phone at 804-929-4134.

Sixth Report of the 2012 Session of the General Assembly

Gambling on the Supreme Court

Delegate Lee Ware, Chairman of the Commerce and Labor subcommittee on insurance welcomed over 120 agents last week to the Insurance Day on the Hill.  Delegate Ware provided a behind the scenes look at a wide range of issues and encouraged agents to meet with their representatives.  “Members of the Virginia General Assembly simply don’t know the issues related to insurance as you do.  You have an obligation to let them know how legislation will effect you and your clients,” noted Delegate Ware.  As well, agents received updates on Federal legislation and in-depth reviews of proposals related to certificates of insurance and the Health Benefit Exchange.  In addition, agents relaxed at a reception attended by over 20 members of the General Assembly including speaker of the House of Delegates Bill Howell.

Our thanks to all agents who attended this critical event and we encourage everyone to get politically active and remain ready to contact their legislators if and when it’s necessary.

This is “cross-over” week coming up.  As of Wednesday the Senate can only look at legislation generated by the House, and the House can only look at legislation generated by the Senate.  This is of course except for that of the budget.  I truly believe this is the calm before the storm related to the budget and I for one am going to try and stay as far away from budget discussions as I possibly can.  Something tells me this is going to get ugly.

Last week, the Senate Commerce and Labor subcommittee on the Health Benefit Exchanges accepted IIAV and VAHU’s recommendations for certifying navigators and requiring 16 hours of continuing education every two years.  Of course, the committee will also recommend to the full Commerce and Labor Committee that the legislation be “carried over” and not be approved this legislative session.  It’s the best we can hope for at the moment.  There is virtually complete political opposition to passing a bill creating a Health Benefit Exchange – from the Governor to the leadership in the House of Delegates.  It’s easy to understand why but from a business perspective it’s just another unknown related to health care and how it impacts businesses in the future.  The Supreme Court will hear pleadings in March and are expected to make their ruling in June.  They could rule the PPACA as completely unconstitutional, or they could uphold bits and pieces of it.  In the mean time businesses large and small are looking for relief from the increasing costs of health care.

IIAV’s certificate legislation is moving forward and since they have effectively passed both houses without opposition, we hope that will continue and that shortly our bills will be heading to the governor for his signature. 

You might also see that legislation related to insurance agent licensing is moving forward.  HB 209  will change the 2 hour requirement for laws and regulations each biennium to 3 hours of Ethics, which may include laws and regulations.  This does not increase the total number of hours needed however.  In addition HB 209 streamlines the CE completion process providing little flexibility for those who don’t meet their requirements.  These provisions will not be effective until the 2013 biennium.

Take a look at the updated legislative table and let me know if you have any questions.  We have about a month to go for this legislative session but they must complete the work on bills before them and then craft a 2 year state budget.  Lots to do.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me by e-mail at Rbradshaw@iiav.com or through my cell phone at 804-909-4134. 

IIAV's Fifth Report of the 2012 Session

A Nervous But Successful Week

We are pleased to report to you that this past Thursday, IIAV's proposed legislation on certificates of insurance - HB 867 – passed by unanimous vote in the House Commerce and Labor Committee.  The bill was amended in order to accommodate federal or state certificate requests where the language requested on the certificate was very specific, but the cert must still reflect the underlying policy.  EPA, DOD and DEQ certificates are federal/state departments with specific certificate language.  Our Senate bill has passed the Senate and when it gets to the House it will be amended to mirror HB 867. 

We are not out of the woods yet. While it's unlikely (knock on wood) opposition could still come out of the woodwork and attempt to do harm to our bills but at this point it would be rather difficult. Having said that, both Joe Hudgins and I will be keeping an alert eye on our bills to make sure nothing happens to them. Keep your fingers crossed.

We've had a little bit of "fun" this week. The Governor has supported two bills (HB 523 and SB 369) that would require a notice on homeowner policies that "earthquake coverage may not be included" in the policy. Additional proposed language requires that the notice be "conspicuous" and also include language that states, "that information regarding earthquake insurance is available from the insurer or the insurance agent."

Of course, debate on this notice follows the debate on the Progressive bill where virtually everyone agreed that people don't read their insurance policies. And just how would you make the language "conspicuous" over say, the flood notice?? And finally, we've had a bit of fun on this as our friends at Allstate don't like the "contact the insurer or agent" language because.... Allstate doesn't offer earthquake coverage! Senator Reeves introduced the bill in the Senate on behalf of the Governor and of course he's a State Farm agent.

Does seem odd however to simply have a notice that says something might not be covered and NOT provide the consumer with some recommended recourse.

Last week a House Commerce and Labor subcommittee reviewed all of the legislative proposals on a Virginia State Health Benefit Exchange. The Governor has strongly argued that we don't need legislation on a HBE this year but many business interests have urged the legislature to craft a bill that everyone could agree with and "carry it over" so if the Supreme Court decision affirms the Federal Health Care Bill we would have a bill already agreed to. Our interest in the debate is the ensure that insurance agents can make positive contributions to the HBE Advisory Board or Governing Council, to ensure that agents can sell policies both inside and outside the exchange and to keep legislators out of the contracts between agents and companies. Debate on the issue is contentious. In a surprise move this past week the House C&L subcommittee voted to table all of the HBE bills - thereby setting them aside for the year. The Senate has not taken action yet on the four bills in that side of the Chamber dealing with an HBE but it appears that their fate would be certain if they make it to the House.

During debate on the House bills, a representative from AARP testified that insurance agents and companies have an inherent conflict of interest and should not be represented on an HBE Board or Advisory Council....of course AARP stands ready to be a navigator for the program. GEEE I wonder if the AARP has any interest in health insurance plans.....

It's been a long time since I saw Joe Hudgins turn such a bright shade of red. Let's just say that Joe and the AARP representative had a bit of a discussion that may continue. I believe I see an amendment supported by IIAV that "any non-profit organization with contractual interests in an insurance program cannot be navigators for the HBE."

Take a look at the Legislative Table and if you have any questions or concerns about any of the proposals listed, please don't hesitate to let me know. Also - PLEASE plan on attending IIAV's Insurance Day on the Hill - co-hosted with the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors - Virginia Chapter and the Virginia Association of Health Underwriters this week. It's critically important this year that insurance agents show their presence both from property/casualty industry but also the health insurance industry. Click here to register for Day on the Hill.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me by e-mail at Rbradshaw@iiav.comor through my cell phone at 804-929-4134.

Announcement on IIAV's Certificate Bill

IIAV's legislative proposal on certificates of insurance HB 867 has just passed the House Commerce & Labor Committee without opposition. We thank all members for their assistance in this process. We will remain vigilant as this bill, and the Senate companion SB 47, continue through the political process.