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 “immediately” to “at the time the bankruptcy petition was filed.” The House placed the bill on the consent calendar and passed it; the Senate committee later worked and advanced the bill.

- House Bill 2045 (board membership): A board‑composition bill that would allow the commissioner to reduce the number of appointed members on certain insurance-related boards. Passed the House on the consent calendar and advanced in the Senate committee.

- House Bill 2046 (travel insurance): Allows certain travel insurance policies to be filed under an accident-and-health line rather than an inland marine line. The House approved the bill; the Senate committee made an effective-date amendment before advancing it.

- House Bill 2047 (online insurance verification): Would establish an online system to verify motor-vehicle liability insurance. The House amended the bill to limit how additional information could be used; the Senate committee heard but did not work the bill, so staff labeled it “content only” for conference purposes.

- House Bill 2048 (reporting and definitions): Would eliminate a requirement that the commissioner submit certain reports to the governor and would remove specific entities from the statutory definition of “person” for enforcing insurance law. A Senate floor amendment (attributed during the briefing to Senator Francisco) preserved the requirement that the commissioner compile the report but changed the delivery method to publishing the report on the department’s website. The bill advanced in committee and on the Senate floor.

- House Bill 2049 (licensure, suspension and renewal): Updates statutes on suspension, revocation and denial of licensure for public adjusters and agents, and standardizes response timelines; the Senate committee amended response timing to 15 business days before advancing the bill.

- House Bill 2050 (fee authority): Authorizes the commissioner of insurance to set certain fees and requires publication of those fees in the Kansas Register. Committee members inserted clarifying language to state that a $2 appointment fee assessed for newly appointed agents is nonrecurring and applies for as long as the agent remains with the appointing insurer; the Senate committee clarified that language in multiple places and advanced the bill.

- House Bill 2128 (accreditation and NAIC provisions): Fixes a date-change issue, permits the commissioner to announce which versions of certain instructions are effective for the coming year (to be published in the Kansas Register by Dec. 1), allows certain life insurers to follow specified financial reporting, and adopts National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) model language related to group capital calculations and liquidity stress testing. The House amended the bill at the department’s request and the Senate committee adopted two amendments (including an effective-date change and an exemption for certain self‑funded plans from the definition of a health benefit plan), then advanced the bill.

- House Bill 2245 (state employee health plan transfer): Would transfer administration of the state employee health plan from the Department of Administration to the commissioner of insurance. The House amended the bill to correct statutory references; the Senate had taken no action at the time of the briefing, so staff listed it as content only.

- House Bill 2246 (hospital transparency/consumer protection): Enacts hospital-transparency consumer protections; the House committee adopted a technical renumbering amendment. The Senate had not acted, so it remained content only for conference.

- House Bill 2233 (renaming department): Renames the Kansas Insurance Department as the Kansas Department of Insurance. The House passed the bill; the Senate changed the effective date and advanced it.

- House Bill 2334 (captive insurance): Updates definitions and terms in the Captive Insurance Act, provides for provisional certificates of authority, and addresses protected-cell and incorporated-cell company structures. The House amended the application-fee language to cap the fee at $2,500. The Senate floor adopted an amendment to provide a one‑year premium‑tax exemption for a captive company that domiciles in Kansas, with rules to prorate or allow the company to select which tax year receives the full exemption.

- Senate bills: Committee staff also noted three Senate bills of committee interest: Senate Bill 32 (reduces insurer premium tax rates and discontinues a remittance to a department service regulation fund), Senate Bill 42 (Senate companion to HB 2047, the online verification system), and Senate Bill 284 (enacting a criminal defense for certain drug distribution-related manufacturing interference). Committee members said most Senate bills are companions to House bills and that they will prioritize those with large, bipartisan margins.

Votes at a glance (as reported in the briefing)

- HB 2042: House 103–8 (Feb. 7); Senate floor 39–0 (March 13) — advanced. - HB 2043: House committee action and House committee of the whole passage reported; Senate committee amendments standardized timing — advanced. - HB 2044: House consent calendar; advanced in Senate committee (amendment clarifying bankruptcy-notification timing). - HB 2045: House consent calendar; advanced in Senate committee. - HB 2046: House committee approval; Senate committee effective‑date amendment; advanced. - HB 2047: House passage (amendment limiting auxiliary data use); Senate committee heard but did not work (content-only for conference). - HB 2048: House consent calendar; Senate amendment to require web publication of compiled report — advanced. - HB 2049: House committee of the whole 114–0; Senate committee amended response timing to 15 business days — advanced. - HB 2050: House passed; Senate clarified and advanced (38–2 in committee of the whole as reported). - HB 2128: House passed; Senate committee and floor amendments adopted — advanced (40–0 reported on March 20). - HB 2245: House amended and passed; Senate had taken no action (content only). - HB 2246: House technical amendment and passage; Senate had taken no action (content only). - HB 2233: House passed; Senate effective-date change and advanced (unanimously reported as advanced). - HB 2334: House passed 113–10; Senate floor amendment on tax exemption for newly domiciled captives — advanced.

What the committee directed next

Committee members agreed to reconvene at 1:00 to finalize a plan for conference committee priorities. Several members suggested starting with companion bills that passed both chambers by wide margins to expedite blending noncontroversial language, and then turning to more divisive or content-only items.

Speakers quoted or identified in the briefing were primarily committee staff who read bill summaries and the committee chair; no formal motions or floor votes were taken at this meeting itself.

Next steps

Committee members will meet at the scheduled 1:00 session with an organizer’s plan in hand to begin conferencing companion bills and determine the order for addressing content-only items and those that require further amendment.