The saga of the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers continues.
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives once again passed a re-up of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 that includes a rider that would create this organization, long sought by a segment of the insurance industry.
Now, if the Senate passes its version of the terrorism act, which also would create the national association, a two-decade-long fight to birth NARAB will finally be over.
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Essentially, NARAB was conceived of as both an oversight/monitoring organization as well as one whose members would enjoy more liberal standards. One oft-cited regulation that would disappear: that agent and client must live in the same state in order to do business together.
But the effort to create the association has become something of a search for the Holy Grail, as one roadblock after another continued to foil its creation.
Last summer, hope bubbled up again among NARAB's backers as it appeared the stars were finally aligning for them. The House pushed a bill through in December, but the Senate continued to drag its feet on the anti-terrorism legislation through the end of the year, and hopes were again dashed.
The bill's backers in the House wasted no time in the new year ramming their latest version of the terrorism insurance act through. The House version was adopted Wednesday. Now, once again the NARAB ball is in the Senate's court. And while observers insist conditions are better than ever for the vote that will at last allow NARAB to become a reality, such predictions have been made before.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
