House Panel Passes Improved LRRA Modernization Bill

The Self-Insurance Institute of America, Inc. (SIIA), reported today that the Capital Markets and Insurance Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee passed an improved LRRA modernization bill out of a markup session.

During its mark-up session today, the House panel made several technical corrections to the “Increasing Insurance Coverage Options for Consumers Act of 2008” (H.R. 5792) originally introduced in April. The bill would allow risk retention groups (RRGs) to write commercial property insurance, thereby expanding the self-insurance/ART marketplace and providing greater insurance options for commercial property owners

In addition to fine tuning existing legislative language, a new provision was added that would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine whether there is unlawful interference in the operation of RRGs by non-domiciliary regulators.

“SIIA welcomes such GAO oversight as we believe that the “single regulator” structure as envisioned by the LRRA is being improperly compromised by the actions of some non-domiciliary regulators. These actions have obviously had a negative impact within the RRG marketplace,” said association President Dick Goff.

Now that the bill has moved out of the subcommittee, it is now pending before the House Financial Services Committee.

SIIA is a national trade association that represents companies involved in the self-insurance/alternative risk transfer industry. Additional information about the association can be accessed on-line at www.siia.org, or by calling 800/851-7789.