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.
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