Committee advances bill to modernize insurance referral rules to include web and email links
Loading...
Summary
The House Insurance Committee reported HB 826 with technical amendments after proponents said the bill would allow referrals by website or email (not just a name or phone number), aiming to make referrals more consumer friendly; agents initially raised concerns but moved to neutral after amendments.
The House Insurance Committee on March 31 reported House Bill 826, which would expand how sellers may provide referrals for insurance products, to the full House after adopting technical amendments.
Kevin Cunningham, who identified himself as representing "AP CIA" and other independent insurers, told the committee the bill is "a simple bill" to "modernize our code, relative to how we do referrals." He said the measure would allow referring parties to give a website or an email address instead of only a person’s name or phone number, saying it would "meet the consumer where they are."
The committee adopted a posted set of technical amendments (amendment set 2378) before testimony. Vice Chair Yoke asked what concerns independent agents had raised; Cunningham said agents feared the change could allow direct referrals to insurers that would undercut licensed Louisiana agents. Cunningham said those stakeholders had worked through possible fixes and ultimately took a neutral position after the amendment process.
With a green card of support noted, Vice Chair Ihle moved that the committee report HB 826 with amendments; there were no objections and the chairman announced the bill was reported as amended. The committee did not take a recorded roll-call vote on the report.
The bill, as reported out of committee, now advances toward consideration by the full House.
