Speakers at CIWA Breakfast Underscore Role of Local Wholesale Brokers’ Assoc.

Richard Bouhan, executive director of NAPSLO, and California Insurance lobbyist Dietmar Grellman of Norwood & Associates stressed the need for vigilance and activism at a breakfast sponsored by the California Insurance Wholesalers Association (CIWA) during the NAPSLO meeting in San Diego last month.

Noting the impact of term limits and redistricting, Grellman explained that California legislators depend, more than ever, on citizens and their associations to inform them on critical issues. As a result of term limits, Grellman noted, legislators are unable to develop areas of specialized knowledge before they are “termed out.” They turn to those impacted, and their associations and lobbyists, to educate them. Those that are active and vigilant are those that are heard.

Recent redistricting based on the 2000 census assured that there will be very little change in the dominance Democrats enjoy in Sacramento. Both parties carved out safe districts, leaving very, very few “swing” districts likely to change parties. For the next decade, moderate business interests, including insurance brokers in California, will need to assure that there are sufficient moderate Democrats who are responsive to brokers’ issues to combine with the Republican minority. Grellman pointed out that this makes organizations such as CIWA essential to the health of the wholesale community in California.

Pointing to Graham-Leach-Bliley and TRIA, Bouhan commented on the recent trend toward Federal intervention in insurance matters, a trend that NAPSLO expects to continue. However, Bouhan impressed upon the audience the need for strong, active local associations to work in coordination with NAPSLO.

Both speakers pointed to recent events where brokers’ associations had acted to avoid onerous initiatives threatening wholesale brokers. Bouhan noted NAPSLO’s role in filing suit against the New York Department of Insurance to avoid the erosion of freedom of rate and form inherent in the Department’s implementation of terrorism rules. As a result, the Department revised the rules. Grellman explained how brokers, acting in concert, were able to carve out an exemption in California’s recent Privacy legislation. Vigilance by CIWA itself uncovered a potentially devastating provision in current Licensing legislation that could, if passed, preclude any binding or other delegated authorities with Surplus Line companies.

Speaking on behalf of the host, CIWA President Hank Haldeman emphasized the critical role CIWA plays in assuring that the unique interests of California’s wholesale brokers are represented. Building on the remarks of Bouhan and Grellman, Haldeman noted that the only way to hope for responsiveness to these interests in California was to have strong and visible local representation. Haldeman unveiled CIWA’s commitment to actively support, through contributions as well as endorsements, the candidacies of moderate Democrats in the 2004 primary election. For the strategy to be effective, Haldeman noted, CIWA needs the membership and support of all wholesalers in California as well as the insurers with which they do business.

Topics California Agencies Legislation Excess Surplus