NAPSLO Special Coverage

Insurance Journal brings you special video coverage of the NAPSLO Annual Convention that took place Sept. 10-14 in San Diego.

Insurance Journal spoke with a number of key leaders in the excess & surplus lines industry. Click here to view the interviews.

NAPSLO Outlines Views in Regulatory Principles

The NAPSLO Board has adopted a set of nine Regulatory Principles aimed at guiding the Association in its response to legislation/regulatory issues affecting in E&S industry at both the state and federal level.

In its principles the Board supported a system of state based regulation, freedom of rate and form for E&S policies and standardization of taxation of multi-state surplus lines risks.

The nine principles was the focus of a panel discussion Sept. 12 at the 2003 NAPSLO Annual Convention in San Diego.

The principles were developed to advise the NAPSLO membership and the industry of the NAPSLO Board’s positions on major regulatory issues impacting the industry and to provide its Legislative Committee and future Boards with a roadmap regarding Association’s positions on regulatory issues.

“We believed it was important to outline our beliefs,” president Nick Cortezi said. “On several issues, such as freedom of rate and form regulation, our position had always been very clear and well-known. On other issues we had developed positions but they may not have been very well known among our members and the industry. The set of regulatory principles allows our board, committees, membership, and also the industry to know our positions on important regulatory issues.”

The following outlines the positions as adopted in the regulatory principles.

NAPSLO REGULATORY PRINCIPLES
I. Freedom From Regulation of Surplus Lines Rates and Forms

II. The Principle of Export – surplus lines transactions involve state regulated surplus lines brokers exporting business to non-admitted companies not regulated by the state.
III. Primacy of Surplus Lines – state based residual market mechanisms should not be given risk placement preference before surplus lines.

IV. Uniform and Reciprocal Licensing of Surplus Lines Brokers Between the States – NAPSLO’s goal is a uniform and reciprocal 50 state system.

V. Standardization of Taxation of Multi-State Surplus Lines Risks – NAPSLO’s goal is a simple and conflict free single payment system for remitting surplus lines taxes on multi-state risks.

VI. Guaranty Funds – NAPSLO is opposed because they promote a false security; they promote the use of financially weak companies; there is a potential premium assessments which is an unfair burden on surplus lines consumers; the surplus lines marketplace is financially secure and dominated by companies with average ratings significantly higher than the overall market.

VII. Commercial Lines Deregulation – Automatic Export – Transactions involving exempt commercial policyholders under state commercial lines deregulation laws should automatically qualify for export to the surplus lines market without conducting a diligent search.

VIII. State Regulation – NAPSLO favors the continuation of a stated-based regulatory system for insurance over a federal system. However, the current state-based system must become more uniform and efficient. Any Federal regulation should include the uniformity and reciprocity among and between the states in the areas of producer licensing and taxation are desirable.

H. James Griffith to be New President of NAPSLO

H. James Griffith of Princeton Risk Managers Inc., Princeton, New Jersey has been elected president of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices, Ltd. (NAPSLO).

NAPSLO member firms voted on the proposed slates of Officers and Directors during the Annual Business Meeting, on Sept. 13, at the NAPSLO Annual Convention at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina.

Jim Griffith is president of Princeton Risk Managers Inc., which he founded in 1974, and is a U.S. Correspondent at Lloyd’s of London. He has served as Chairman of the IIANJ State Legislative Committee, the New Jersey Surplus Lines Association Legislative Committee, and the State of New Jersey Commission to Study Commercial Insurance Deregulation. He has also served on the IIABA Federal Affairs Committee.

Griffith was elected to the NAPSLO Board in 1997 and was elected an officer in 2000. He has also served as President of the New Jersey Surplus Lines Association. He attended Rutgers University and the Wharton School (Risk Management), and has been an instructor for the Society for Certified Insurance Counselors.

The following individuals were elected as new NAPSLO officers:
•President – H. James Griffith, president, Princeton Risk Managers Inc., Princeton, New Jersey.
•Vice president – Richard L. Polizzi, president & CEO, Western Security Surplus Insurance Brokers Inc., Pasadena, California.
•Secretary – Lawrence M. Wesson, Jr., president and COO, U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Dallas.
•Treasurer – William H. Newton, president and owner, Lemac & Associates, Los Angeles.

Nominated for a new three-year term on the NAPSLO Board was Dale H. Pilkington of Colony Insurance Company, Richmond, Va.

Re-nominated for new three-year terms on the NAPSLO board are: Griffith, Wesson, G. Stephen Allen, CRC Insurance Services Inc., Raleigh, N.C.; and Patricia H. Roberts, General Star Indemnity Company, Stamford, Conn.

Directors are nominated for three-year terms on the Board. Officers are nominated for a one-year term.

Topics Agencies Legislation Excess Surplus New Jersey Risk Management