Kansas committee hears bill to align public adjuster and insurance agent licensing; debate centers on response deadlines

House Bill 2,049 would make the public adjuster statute consistent with the insurance agent licensing statute and update provisions on suspension, revocation, denial of licensure and renewal.

The measure drew support from the Kansas Department of Insurance and industry groups, and prompted debate over how many days licensees should have to respond to inquiries from the insurance commissioner and to consumer complaints.

"House Bill 2,049 updates the public adjuster and insurance agent statutes pertaining to suspension revocation denial of licensure and licensure renewal," said Eileen, the reviser who briefed the committee. The bill replaces language in KSA 40-55-10 (the public adjuster licensing statute) to align it with KSA 44-909 (the insurance agent licensing statute), the reviser said.

Eric Turk of the Kansas Department of Insurance testified in support and emphasized the goal of parity between the public adjuster and agent enforcement statutes. "At the end of the day, we would hope that there would be 1 set of, 1 timeline to respond for consumer complaints and that would be 14 calendar days," Turk said. He explained the department's preference that consumer-complaint responses be handled on a shorter calendar-day timeline while other departmental inquiries could follow a different standard.

Committee members pressed on practical implications. Senator Fack asked whether a two-week vacation could interfere with a 14-calendar-day deadline. Turk replied the department prefers 15 business days for routine departmental inquiries and 14 calendar days specifically for consumer complaints, noting that about 10% of consumer complaints involve communication with agents. Senator Gossage and others said they understood the committee's intent to differentiate consumer-complaint deadlines from regular inquiry deadlines.

The committee discussed how timelines should be measured. Turk said the department typically communicates by email and that the agency is participating in a pilot external-complaint portal to let companies and staff upload documents; he suggested consistency across insurer, producer (agent), and public adjuster statutes would satisfy the department.

A written proponent testimony was filed by Craig Sepech, Director of the Office of Strategy, Policy and Government Affairs for the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). No opponent or neutral testimony was filed during the hearing.

Committee members indicated they will consider an amendment to clarify the timelines and whether the deadlines begin on transmission or on receipt. The chair closed the hearing on House Bill 2,049 with no immediate vote taken.