LOBBYISTS BOAST SUCCESS IN KANSAS:

Lobbyists for the insurance industry were able to defeat more than 80 bills they said would have had an adverse impact, according to a statement from the Washington, D.C.-based American Insurance Association. Several bills expected to have a positive impact on the insurance market were passed and have been sent to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, for her signature, including the following: HB 2545, which authorizes the Kansas Insurance Department to adopt rules and regulations for the electronic verification of auto insurance coverage by insurers; HB 2563, which increased the threshold amount for reporting accidents from the current $500 per accident to $1,000 per accident; HB 2597, which includes an amendment abolishing the legal requirement that agents carry errors and omissions (E&O) coverage, though companies may still require it; HB 2764, which adopts language providing for the interlocutory appeal of class certification lawsuits. This bill was already signed by the governor on March 29. AIA lobbied against and took credit for ultimately defeating several measures it called “onerous,” including the following: SB 339, which would have prevented cancellation or nonrenewal of homeowners insurance policies for a single storm-related claim; SB 347, which would have imposed severe restrictions on the use of loss history reports related to inquiries for homeowners insurance; HB 2894, which would have imposed an additional tax on insurance companies doing business in Kansas by applying the franchise tax at a rate of one percent of corporate equity of the company attributable to Kansas. The record was not perfect, however: Several measures supported by AIA and other insurers focusing on workers’ compensation reform were defeated.