House Committee on Insurance advances seven Senate bills on fiduciary accounts, title agents and insurance verification

The House Committee on Insurance advanced seven Senate bills during a committee meeting, voting each “favorably” as amended. Committee staff summarized each measure; most motions to advance were made by Representative Neighbour and seconded by Representative Penn and were approved by voice vote.

The measures address separate fiduciary accounting for third-party administrators (SB21); title insurance agent audits, standardized surety bonds and a county-size exemption change (SB22); a 14-day response requirement to insurance-commissioner inquiries and extensions for rebate pilot testing (SB23); publication and reporting changes for the commissioner’s annual report and definitional edits (SB27); alignment of the public adjuster statute with the insurance-agent licensing statute including a response-time enforcement provision (SB28); the creation of an online, near‑real‑time motor-vehicle liability insurance verification system (SB42); and adoption of NAIC holding-company model requirements plus exemptions for certain self‑funded health benefit plans (SB121).

SB21 would require third-party administrators to maintain separate fiduciary accounts for each payer and to disclose any bankruptcy filing by the administrator under Chapter 11 or Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to the commissioner immediately. The committee advanced the bill as amended; Representative Neighbour moved passage and Representative Penn seconded. The committee approved the bill by voice vote.

SB22 would change title insurance agent audit reporting so audits need not be filed with the commissioner but must be available for inspection on request, standardize the required surety bond or irrevocable letter of credit at $100,000, and eliminate a controlled‑business exemption for counties with populations under…