ENEWS - APRIL 12, 2005

SMART ACT ACTION
Congressional action on the State Modernization and Regulatory Transparency (SMART) Act continues and NAPSLO representatives met Monday with staff of the House Financial Services Committee regarding NAPSLO's views on the discussion draft of the bill.

The SMART ACT could overhaul insurance regulation and include federal standards to be used by states. A discussion draft of the bill was released earlier this year and NAPSLO wrote the committee in March regarding its views on the draft. A copy of NAPSLO's comments are available on the NAPSLO website.

The major areas noted by NAPSLO were:

1.) Inclusion of a provision or statement that the surplus lines market is to be free of rate and form regulation.

2.) Support for the provision that would create a procedure so that surplus lines brokers would remit all state premium tax due on surplus lines policies to one state.

3.) Support for an "automatic export" provision for all exempt or "Sophisticated Insurance Purchasers."

4.) Expansion of one state compliance on multi-state risks from sophisticated insurance producers to all commercial insureds.

Following additional staff work on the bill, the full committee may hold hearings this summer.

NAPSLO E&S SCHOOL SOLD OUT
All space in the NAPSLO E&S School, set for June 25-28 in St. Louis, has been sold out.

Brochures were mailed in March and firms quickly filled the 80 spots in the school. The E&S School, now in its 16th year, is designed for those with one to five years experience. Each year NAPSLO offers the E&S School in the Summer and the Advanced School in the fall. 

The Advanced School, designed for people with more than five years experience, is set for November 5-8 in Dallas and registration materials will be sent in late summer.

NAPSLO ANNUAL CONVENTION
The 2005 NAPSLO Annual Convention is set for September 14-18 at the San Francisco Marriott and registration materials will be mailed in mid-May.

The convention will take place at the San Francisco Marriott, and rooms also will be available at Parc 55 and the Argent. The convention and hotel registration deadline will be July 29th.

The annual meeting will be held Wednesday to Saturday, beginning with the Opening Reception on Wednesday evening. Programs will take place on Friday with the Closing Reception on Saturday evening. Friday's programs feature columnist George Will as the annual Derek Hughes/NAPSLO Educational Foundation Lecture Series presenter.

UPCOMING NAPSLO EVENTS
NAPSLO E&S School - June 25-28, 2005 - St. Louis, Missouri
NAPSLO Annual Convention - September 14-18, 2005 - San Francisco, California