Senate committee reviews long list of insurance-related House bills, sets plan to prioritize companion measures

Members of the Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance reviewed a lengthy list of House-passed insurance bills and agreed to prioritize companion measures for upcoming conference committee work, committee members said during a meeting in which staff walked through each bill's current status.

The committee heard summaries of measures addressing title agents, third-party administrators, captive insurance company rules, a fee-setting bill for the commissioner of insurance, an online system to verify motor-vehicle liability insurance, and several other technical and substantive insurance provisions. Several bills already passed one or both chambers with recorded vote tallies; others remain “content only” conference items because the Senate has not yet acted, staff said.

Why it matters: The bills would change regulatory requirements that affect insurers, agents, employers who sponsor self-funded plans, and state government operations. Several measures include effective-date changes, fee clarifications and limits on how certain data may be used. Committee members said they will first combine and pursue the companion bills that passed both chambers by wide margins, leaving more divisive or content-only items for later sessions.

Key points from the committee briefing

- House Bill 2042 (title agents): Would require title agents to make audit reports available for inspection rather than submitting them annually to the commissioner, increase or standardize surety-bond filings to $100,000, and eliminate a controlled-business exemption in certain counties. The House passed the bill 103–8 on Feb. 7; the Senate floor later approved it 39–0, staff reported.

- House Bill 2043 (agent response times and rebate pilots): Would require agents and insurers to respond to commissioner inquiries within 14 calendar days and would authorize certain rebate pilot programs to extend beyond one year. The measure passed the House and was heard in the Senate committee; staff described committee amendments that standardized response timing.

- House Bill 2044 (third-party administrators): Would require third‑party administrators to maintain separate fiduciary accounts and to disclose any Chapter 9 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by or on behalf of the administrator. Committee staff said an amendment changed the notification timing language from…