CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK TO SPEAK AT IIABA NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE
Ranking Democrat on key committee for agents & brokers to speak at April 23 breakfast
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 4 - Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, will speak to members of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) during their National Legislative Conference next month.
Frank will speak at a breakfast April 23 to more than 800 independent agents and brokers from across the country who will be attending the Big “I” National Legislative Conference. Participants also will include agent and broker leaders from Frank’s home state.
IIABA’s National Legislative Conference is the industry’s best-attended, most effective legislative meeting. This year’s event will take place April 21 through 23 at the Capital Hilton. Frank is the second prominent member of Congress to be confirmed as a speaker for the Big “I” event. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles (R-Okla.) will address IIABA leaders during the annual Insiders’ Luncheon—the traditional kickoff event that takes place the day before the legislative gathering’s official opening. Additional high-profile political speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.
“Congressman Frank is the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives on insurance issues,” says Charles E. Symington Jr., Big “I” senior vice president of government affairs. “As the Ranking Member on the Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank has a major voice in the House on a number of issues that are crucial to the livelihoods of independent insurance agents and brokers across America, primary of which is modernization of state insurance regulation. Big ‘I’ members look forward to hearing his thoughts on this issue, which encompasses everything from agent and broker licensing to speed to market issues, along with other pressing insurance and business concerns.”
As the leading Democrat in the House on insurance and financial services issues, Ranking Member Frank may discuss federal regulation of insurance vis a vis state regulation; agent and broker licensing; targeted reforms or national treatment of insurance; flood insurance reauthorization and reform; privacy issues; and other topics of interest to independent agents and brokers.
Frank, who was elected to Congress in 1980, is serving his 12th term. In addition to his ranking role on the Financial Services Committee, he is also a member of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism. He previously served as a Massachusetts state representative and an assistant to the mayor of Boston, and taught at several Boston-area universities.
“Congressman Frank has a wealth of knowledge and experience on insurance issues, and our members will be keenly interested in his insight,” says Patrick O’Brien, IIABA Washington representative and grassroots coordinator. “He has shown leadership on insurance issues throughout his career, and our members are very aware of the key role he plays for independent agents and brokers and the insurance industry. In addition, he is one of the most charismatic and dynamic speakers in Congress.”
Highlights of the Big “I” National Legislative Conference will include an in-depth issues briefing session; the annual Big “I” congressional reception on Capitol Hill; appearances by numerous high-profile speakers discussing important insurance and national issues confronting lawmakers as well as agents and brokers in Washington, D.C.; and hundreds of meetings on Capitol Hill between Big “I” agents and brokers and their elected representatives in the Congress.
The legislative conference provides an excellent opportunity for agents and brokers to discuss important issues with their congressional representatives. Top issues this year include insurance regulatory modernization, tort reform, passage of a flood insurance reform bill, and changes in the tax treatment of intangible assets.
To register online and make hotel reservations go to www.independentagent.com and select the “Events and Conferences” link.
Founded in 1896, IIABA (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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