The Garamendi Agenda: Producer Regulations Version 2.0

Rancho Cordova…Although soundly defeated in the legislature earlier in the year, the Garamendi Agenda remains alive and well according to The California Department of Insurance’s Chief Counsel, Gary Cohen.

Speaking before the Annual General Counsel Seminar, Cohen served notice that the Garamendi Agenda of expanded broker disclosure is not going away. Cohen assured the group of industry lobbyists that in addition to expanded disclosure requirements, he expects the Department to bring new enforcement actions to force an expansion of producer duties.

Michael J. D’Arelli, Vice President, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs for the Western Insurance Agents Association, recently told a group of Sacramento insurance lobbyists, “We’ve pounded the tables for months warning that we cannot afford to rest on the defeat off SB 939. We may have won round one, but we’ve got to keep our coalition together to defeat the Garamendi Agenda.

The Department says these regulations differ from their legislative proposal. I say, “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck…it’s a duck. These new set of regs are nothing more than agency killers – period.”

WIAA’s successful Line in the Sand campaign continues to serve as the battle cry for most of the insurance industry who see the Garamendi Agenda as a threat to their business. Unfortunately IBA West pre-empted the CDI’s call for broker disclosure by revealing their own set of disclosure forms.

When asked if WIAA was going to issue its own set of forms, D’Arelli was emphatic, “Absolutely not. Why would we ask legislators to work with our coalition to oppose the Department’s unwarranted and politically motivated attempts to require additional disclosure, and then turn around and support voluntary disclosure? Our members would question our motives if we made the noose by which the Department or Legislature would hang us. By doing so, we would in essence be writing our own regulation, as any so-called ‘voluntary’ disclosure forms would soon be put on the backs of agents and brokers when adopted as a legislative or regulatory mandate.”

The Western Insurance Agents Association (WIAA) represents approximately 750 independent property and casualty insurance agencies and brokerages, and more than 5,000 licensed insurance professionals. Until December 31st, 2002, WIAA was an affiliate of PIA in California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico and operated as the PIA Group. WIAA no longer has any affiliation with the PIA.

WIAA has established a legal defense fund and is mobilizing agents statewide to defeat onerous legislation.

For more information regarding this news release and/or its contents, please contact: Alan Smith, Jr. – 916/443-4221

Topics Agencies Legislation