BIG “I” COMMENDS OXLEY, BAKER FOR MOVING FORWARD ON ‘SMART’
Nation’s largest insurance association pleased with start of hearings
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 16, 2005—The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) commends House Financial Services Committee Chairman Mike Oxley (R-Ohio) and Capital Markets, Insurance and Government-Related Enterprises Subcommittee Chairman Richard Baker (R-La.) for moving forward with hearings on the State Modernization and Regulatory Transparency (SMART) Act.
The Big “I” strongly supports the SMART Act, developed by Oxley and Baker, which moved forward today with a hearing in Baker’s subcommittee.
“We are very pleased with the commencement of hearings on this crucial, much-needed reform legislation,” says Charles E. Symington, Jr., Big “I” senior vice president for government affairs and federal relations. “We commend Chairmen Oxley and Baker for all their hard work to move this plan forward, and we will continue to strongly support it as it moves along.”
The Big “I” supports the SMART Act because it believes very strongly that reform of the existing insurance regulatory system is necessary, but that the current state-based framework should be preserved. It opposes federal regulation of insurance, including proposals for an “optional” federal charter (OFC).
“We believe the SMART Act will foster regulatory consistency among the states without creating a burdensome new federal bureaucracy or unduly encumbering agents and brokers nationwide with onerous or duplicative regulations,” Symington adds. “The SMART plan provides the proper balance between federal involvement and state-based regulation, which is closer to the consumer and less cumbersome for independent insurance agents and brokers. We look forward to working with Chairmen Oxley and Baker and their committee and subcommittee colleagues as this plan moves forward.”
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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