Insurance Committee roundup: four bills advanced, one rolled

The Tennessee House Insurance Committee handled several short items on Feb. 25 and recorded these actions:

- House Bill 0119: Sponsor described the bill as consolidating the cash-or-bond/certificate-of-bond process under the Department of Revenue so customers would deal with a single state department rather than two. Committee roll call: 18 ayes, 0 nays. The bill was forwarded to Calendar and Rules.

- House Bill 0329: Sponsor said the bill would permit Tennessee banks to access cost-effective health insurance through a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA), modeled after a North Carolina arrangement established by the North Carolina Bankers Association. Committee roll call: 18 ayes, 0 nays. The bill was referred to the Government Operations Committee.

- House Bill 0161: Sponsor described the bill as a parity measure raising the limit on property-and-casualty insurers’ investments in foreign-owned assets from 1% to 20% to match the allowance for life insurers. Committee roll call: 18 ayes, 0 nays. The bill was forwarded to Calendar and Rules.

- House Bill 0018: The committee rolled the bill by one week (no vote recorded on the substance during this meeting).

All recorded roll-call tallies in the meeting were read by the clerk and reflect the committee’s votes as announced on the record.

Votes at a glance: HB0119 — 18-0 to Calendar and Rules; HB0329 — 18-0 to Government Operations; HB0161 — 18-0 to Calendar and Rules; HB0018 — rolled by one week.

The committee’s brief descriptions did not include detailed fiscal notes or sponsor-provided cost estimates during the meeting; those details would appear in committee files and subsequent analyses if requested.