The Governmental Affairs Committee is charged with ensuring AAMGA members are kept informed on the governmental and regulatory issues, developments and other matters having an impact on their operations.

Committee members regularly meet with state and federal elected and appointed officials across the country. The AAMGA’s influence in Congress and with state regulators has enabled members of the Association to advance needed insurance reforms and to then lobby their own elected representatives and regulators on matters of importance to the wholesale insurance industry. It has also resulted in the AAMGA being afforded the opportunity of testifying and providing specific data and information on our industry before US Senate and House of Representatives Committees in Washington, DC. The AAMGA is a reliable and trusted source.

The Governmental Affairs Committee also liaises regularly with the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom, in order to discuss and advise how regulatory initiatives there will impact the transaction of business in North America.

Members attend meetings of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the National Association of Professional and Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO), the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), Surplus Lines Law Group, and other insurance industry conferences.

2009 - 2010 Committee Goals

1. Monitor and keep current on federal and state regulatory and legislative efforts.
2. Provide updates and news on federal and state regulatory information to membership via e-mails, newsletter and our website.
3. Liaise with Association staff and other association legislative or governmental staff for the benefit of the Wholesale and Surplus Lines Industry.
4. Work with Executive Director to ensure federal, state and industry hearings or Conferences are attended as warranted, and share information with our membership.
5. Educate legislative and regulatory staffs / departments about AAMGA and the Wholesale and Surplus Lines Industry.

Surplus Lines Law Group Fall 2009 Meeting Materials (35.3MB PDF)

State Tort Law Profiles

Florida 2009 Legislative Wrap-Up

The 2009 Session of the Florida Legislature was an important one to wholesale insurance professionals. Click here to listen to a podcast wrap up of the Session with AAMGA members Fred Karlinsky and Katie Webb of the Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld and Karlinsky law firm.

Congressional Hearings on Insurance Regulation

Click here for a brief summary of the insurance regulatory hearings that were held before the Senate’s Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and the House Financial Services Committee, on March 17, 2009.

Click here to access the Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge Excess and Surplus Lines Law Manual.

Click here to download a copy of the Regulatory and Legislative Positions of the AAMGA brochure.

AAMGA Governmental & Regulatory Podcasts

Each week the AAMGA Governmental Affairs Committee provides its members with podcasts of important news and information impacting our membership. In an exclusive relationship with the Patton & Boggs law firm in Washington, DC, and its partner Kevin O’Neill, Esquire, the podcasts provide weekly updates to keep AAMGA members on top of all the developments and trends.

Please click on the highlighted titles below to access the podcast in which
you are interested.

House and Senate Analysis (Running Time 11:57)

• The House’s floor schedule for the week includes a rare impeachment of a federal judge and a symbolic vote on the pace of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.
• The Senate must pass phase one of the jobs package this week and could wrap up the $140 billion phase two of the package as well, though that portion could run into trouble with the House.
• The health care reform endgame is in full swing with the action in the House where the Speaker is looking for votes amongst members who have plenty of reasons to say “No.”
• Reconciliation is just the beginning of the parliamentary maneuvering on health care reform – what other tactics are both parties in both chambers planning on using?
• The Ways and Means Committee has a new Chairman, which could be bad news for free trade agreements and private equity fund managers.
• Could this be the week we see financial reform legislation introduced in the Senate?
• The Speaker’s worst week in four years came from the Ethics Committee being in a New York State of Mind.

White House Report (Running Time 5:01)

• President Obama visits Philadelphia and St. Louis to pitch health care reform this week.
• The bad news of the jobs report keeps the “double-dip” recession fears front and center.
• Will the President backtrack on plans to kill NASA’s missions to the moon and Mars?
• Adam Gadahn’s capture in Pakistan is good news for the President’s anti-terrorism agenda and it may cause another examination of the right time, place and method for trying alleged terrorists.

Healthcare Report (Running Time 3:30)

• The Speaker hunts for the needed votes in the House to pass health care reform.
• The Senate considers jobs packages and tax extenders that include Medicare physician fee fixes through the end of 2010.

Click here to participate on the AAMGA’s Governmental Affairs Committee

Click here to access the AAMGA Caucus Room with state and federal legislative and regulatory news and information

State Insurance Departments

Scroll over and click on the individual state names below for the websites of the state insurance departments:

Members of the Committee in 2009-2010 are: