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Bill would align public‑adjuster rules with producer‑licensing standards, add grounds for discipline
Summary
House Bill 2049 would harmonize public‑adjuster licensing language with existing insurance‑agent (producer) licensing rules, copying NAIC model law considerations for criminal history and disciplinary review and allowing cross‑use of licensing actions in considering other licenses.
House Bill 2049 was presented to the House Insurance Committee to align the public‑adjuster licensing statute with the insurance‑agent (producer) licensing statute and to standardize grounds and factors the commissioner must consider in licensing, suspension, revocation and renewal decisions.
Why it matters: The bill largely copies language present in the producer licensing statute into the public‑adjuster statute so the commissioner may consider factors like the age at which an offense occurred, recency and seriousness of conduct and whether rehabilitation has occurred when evaluating applications. The department said the change brings parity and implements standards from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners model producer licensing law.
Eric Turek testified that the department licenses about 200,000 insurance agents (most nonresident) and “only a couple hundred” public adjusters. He said the bill “brings parity to both statutes” and that the added language is already used when the department reviews agent licenses. The bill would also allow the department to consider sanctioning events or revocations on one license when reviewing another license held by the same person.
Committee members discussed whether a 15‑business‑day response provision shown in current statute should be updated to the 14‑calendar‑day standard the department is proposing in HB 2043; the department confirmed its intent to move consumer‑complaint response requirements to 14 calendar days but noted the bills are separate.
Neutral and proponent written testimony from industry stakeholders was filed; no opposition testified in person. The committee closed the hearing on HB 2049 with the department’s proponent testimony recorded; further drafting or an amendment may be considered later.
Ending: The bill would create consistent discretion for the commissioner when reviewing licensing applicants and would allow the department to use action on one license as relevant when considering others; no committee vote was taken at the hearing.
