PIACT-backed legislation needs your help

Click here to determine who your state Senator is, and contact them to ask for their support on H.B.5248, the PIACT-backed "Certificates of Insurance" bill. The bill unanimously passed the House on April 9, 2014. It now is on Senate calendar 331. The bill would address a number of certificate of insurance-related issues affecting producers across the state, such as demands for certificates that attempt to expand the underlying policy by adding additional insureds and cancellation notification and demands on producers to sign certificates that attempt to legally attest to how a policy will react in the future—something we believe to be impossible to predict. This common-sense bill does not impose any red tape or bureaucratic requirements on small businesses, and protects consumers, insurance purchasers and the industry alike.  

Flood and storm-related bill passes House

H.B.5502 was amended and passed by the Connecticut House of Representatives yesterday. The bill, as previously analyzed in the Reporter, and summarized here would make a number of changes to insurance laws dealing with the following: requirements to install storm shutters; storm-related cancellations and declinations; exempting flood insurance from the surplus lines statement requirement; extending the timeframe to file suit to recover under the standard fire policy; among others. The above-referenced amendment changes the bill to state that an insurer cannot refuse to issue or renew a policy solely on the grounds that an insured has failed to install storm shutters or failed to have storm shutters on the premises of his or her residence.  

Leonardi: White House meeting was ’productive’

Last Thursday, Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas B. Leonardi, along with 43 other members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, met with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and senior members of the administration to discuss enrollment issues under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In a statement on his website, Leonardi said that the meeting was productive and covered a breadth of health-care reform issues. He also said that President Obama was "very appreciative of the good work being done in Connecticut." More …   

A.M. Best: Leonardi says it’s unclear why producers need global capital standards

In an A.M. Best Q&A, Commissioner Leonardi says that the top issues facing the industry today are the developments happening internationally, specifically with the Financial Stability Board and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. In this subscription-only article, Leonardi admits that he has been "outspoken" in questioning the need for a global capital standard, and that it is perhaps unrealistic to implement these standards in a short amount of time. He goes on to comment on the Federal Insurance Office as well as the acceptance of private capital. More can be seen in A.M. Best’s subscription-exclusive article here.   

CID extends tax-return date for SL-9, SL-8

Last week, the Connecticut Insurance Department Licensing Unit announced to surplus-lines licensees that a quarterly premium tax return is now due on or before May 15, 2014. Tax returns (SL-9) and written statements (SL-8) should be filed at OPTins.org. For more information, click here.  

HUD to consider spending Sandy relief on other disaster areas

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is considering spending more than $1 billion of the remaining $3.6 billion, designated for Sandy relief, in other areas of the country affected by other disasters. More …  

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Marsh survey: TRIPRA reauthorization imperative

In the 2014 Terrorism Risk Insurance Report released yesterday, Marsh found that the existence of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act—TRIPRA, or, more commonly known as TRIA—is essential in making terrorism-insurance coverage both available and affordable. According to the report, the amount of companies remained constant since 2009, and pricing stable. However, uncertainty over TRIPRA's pending expiration is negatively impacting the availability and price of coverage. Other findings included that construction companies paid the most for terrorism insurance in 2013, while health-care companies paid the least; education organizations purchased property terrorism insurance at a higher rate than other industries; and that Massachusetts had the highest property terrorism insurance take-up rates. More …  

ISO/PCI analyze 2013 p/c insurers’ performance

The Insurance Services Office Inc. and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America published a press release on private U.S. property/casualty insurers’ performance in 2013. P/C insurers’ net income after taxes grew to $63.8 billion in 2013 from $35.1 billion in 2012. The combined ratio—a key measure of losses and other underwriting expenses per dollar of premium—improved to 96.1 percent for 2013 from 102.9 percent for 2012. The swing to net gains on underwriting is attributable to premium growth and a drop in net losses and loss adjustment expenses, but were partially offset by increases in underwriting expenses and dividends to policyholders.  

Spring CE Fest is the networking event of the season

The PIACT Third Annual Spring CE Fest is happening Thursday, May 15, 2014, at the Crowne Plaza, in Cromwell. Earn 3 LRE and 3 PC credits, while networking with other insurance industry professionals. Mishell K. Magnusson, CIC, CISR, CPIA, AAI, FIPC, brings her expertise to the table for two dynamic education sessions: Dealing with Personal Lines Issues from 9 a.m.-noon, which will cover the hottest issues that affect all agents and brokers on a daily basis when dealing with insured’s and the "toys" they have. For this seminar, she will discuss the effects of definitions such as "business;" "motor vehicle" and "watercraft" to the personal-lines customer as well as how the insurance producer/CSR needs to address these. There will be a networking lunch from noon-1 p.m. Insurance & Ethics seminar will be held from 1-4 p.m., which was designed specifically for insurance practitioners, and uses cultural comparisons, technology, agents’ statutory duties and more to outline an ethical framework. For more information or to register, click here.   

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Ask PIA: Excluded drivers

Q. How can insurers exclude a specific driver from a private-passenger auto policy? A. CGA 38a-335(d) delineates the minimum-required coverages for private-passenger auto policies. It states that with respect to the insured motor vehicle, the coverage afforded under the bodily injury liability and property damage liability provisions in any such policy shall apply to the named insured and relatives residing in their household unless any such person is specifically excluded by endorsement. All such endorsements must be filed with and approved by the insurance commissioner. For a more comprehensive answer to this question, click here. To access our entire Ask PIA library of frequently asked questions and expert answers by PIA’s technical staff, click here.   

PIA’s Custom Class: Education when and where you want it

With the PIA member-exclusive Custom Class program, your employees get tailored, targeted knowledge and continuing-education credit without leaving the office. Get more value out of the time and money your agency or company is investing in CE when you plan a program to suit your needs. With PIA Custom Class all licensed insurance professionals in your agency or company earn CE credits at the same time, at substantial cost savings. And, they’ll gain important knowledge specific to your business’s operations that they can start implementing immediately. PIA can help you create a winning spirit throughout your business while staying up-to-date with state licensing requirements. More …   

Upcoming Webinars

Additional upcoming Webinars include the following: Top Ten Personal-Lines Endorsements (Tuesday, May 6, from 10-11 a.m., CTCE: 1 PC); Long-Term Care Insurance (Tuesday, May 13, from 10-11 a.m., CTCE: 1 LH); Top Ten Commercial-Lines Endorsements (Thursday, May 29, from 10-11 a.m., CTCE: 1 PC); E&O Hotspots … 2014 and Beyond^{^FF^UM} (Tuesday, June 17, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., CTCE: 3 PC); and Agency Staffing, Performance, and Job Evaluations (Tuesday, June 24, from 10-11 a.m., CTCE: N/A). ^{^FF^UM}—This course has been approved for E&O loss-prevention credit by Fireman’s Fund and Utica Mutual. Call the PIA E&O Department for details at (800) 424-4244. For more information or to register, click here.  

Sharing MVRs with commercial clients

In providing motor vehicle reports to your commercial clients, you may be considered to be a consumer-reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and, therefore, subject to the obligations and restrictions of this act. PIACT offers a resource kit that explains the laws and issues you should be familiar with when pulling MVRs for your commercial clients. For further information on this topic, access QS06084.   

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