260
(1)
ADMINISTRATIVE
LICENSING
PROCE-
DURES.—At least a majority of the States permit a
producer that has a resident license for selling or so-
liciting the purchase of insurance in its home State
to receive a license to sell or solicit the purchase of
insurance in such majority of States as a non-
resident to the same extent such producer is per-
mitted to sell or solicit the purchase of insurance in
its State, without satisfying any additional require-
ments other than submitting—
(A) a request for licensure;
(B) the application for licensure that the
producer submitted to its home State;
(C) proof that the producer is licensed and
in good standing in its home State; and
(D) the payment of any requisite fee to the
appropriate authority,
if the producer’s home State also awards such li-
censes on such a reciprocal basis.
(2)
CONTINUING
EDUCATION
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—A majority of the States accept an insur-
ance producer’s satisfaction of its home State’s con-
tinuing education requirements for licensed insur-
ance producers to satisfy the States’ own continuing
education requirements if the producer’s home State
261
also recognizes the satisfaction of continuing edu-
cation requirements on such a reciprocal basis.
(3)
NO
LIMITING
NONRESIDENT
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—A majority of the States do not impose
any requirement upon any insurance producer to be
licensed or otherwise qualified to do business as a
nonresident that has the effect of limiting or condi-
tioning that producer’s activities because of its resi-
dence
or
place
of
operations,
except
that
countersignature
requirements
imposed
on
non-
resident producers shall not be deemed to have the
effect of limiting or conditioning a producer’s activi-
ties because of its residence or place of operations
under this section.
(4) RECIPROCAL
RECIPROCITY.—Each of the
States that satisfies paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)
grants reciprocity to residents of all of the other
States that satisfy such paragraphs.
(d) DETERMINATION.—
(1) NAIC DETERMINATION.—At the end of the
3-year period beginning on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the National Association of Insur-
ance Commissioners shall determine, in consultation
with the insurance commissioners or chief insurance
regulatory officials of the States, whether the uni-
262
formity or reciprocity required by subsections (b)
and (c) has been achieved.
(2)
JUDICIAL
REVIEW.—The
appropriate
United States district court shall have exclusive ju-
risdiction over any challenge to the National Asso-
ciation of Insurance Commissioners’ determination
under this section and such court shall apply the
standards set forth in section 706 of title 5, United
States Code, when reviewing any such challenge.
(e) CONTINUED APPLICATION.—If, at any time, the
uniformity or reciprocity required by subsections (b) and
(c) no longer exists, the provisions of this subtitle shall
take effect within 2 years, unless the uniformity or reci-
procity required by those provisions is satisfied before the
expiration of that 2-year period.
(f) SAVINGS PROVISION.—No provision of this sec-
tion shall be construed as requiring that any law, regula-
tion, provision, or action of any State which purports to
regulate insurance producers, including any such law, reg-
ulation, provision, or action which purports to regulate un-
fair trade practices or establish consumer protections, in-
cluding countersignature laws, be altered or amended in
order to satisfy the uniformity or reciprocity required by
subsections (b) and (c), unless any such law, regulation,
provision, or action is inconsistent with a specific require-
263
ment of any such subsection and then only to the extent
of such inconsistency.
SEC.
322.
NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION
OF
REGISTERED
AGENTS AND BROKERS.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Na-
tional Association of Registered Agents and Brokers
(hereafter in this subtitle referred to as the ‘‘Associa-
tion’’).
(b) STATUS.—The Association shall—
(1) be a nonprofit corporation;
(2) have succession until dissolved by an Act of
Congress;
(3) not be an agency or establishment of the
United States Government; and
(4) except as otherwise provided in this Act, be
subject to, and have all the powers conferred upon
a nonprofit corporation by the District of Columbia
Nonprofit Corporation Act (D.C. Code, sec. 29y–
1001 et seq.).
SEC. 323. PURPOSE.
The purpose of the Association shall be to provide
a mechanism through which uniform licensing, appoint-
ment, continuing education, and other insurance producer
sales qualification requirements and conditions can be
adopted and applied on a multistate basis, while preserv-
264
ing the right of States to license, supervise, and discipline
insurance producers and to prescribe and enforce laws and
regulations with regard to insurance-related consumer
protection and unfair trade practices.
SEC. 324. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
The Association shall be subject to the supervision
and oversight of the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners (hereafter in this subtitle referred to as the
‘‘NAIC’’) and shall not be an agency or an instrumentality
of the United States Government.
SEC. 325. MEMBERSHIP.
(a) ELIGIBILITY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any State-licensed insurance
producer shall be eligible to become a member in the
Association.
(2) INELIGIBILITY FOR SUSPENSION OR REV-
OCATION OF LICENSE.—Notwithstanding paragraph
(1), a State-licensed insurance producer shall not be
eligible to become a member if a State insurance
regulator has suspended or revoked such producer’s
license in that State during the 3-year preceding the
date such producer applies for membership.
(3) RESUMPTION OF ELIGIBILITY.—Paragraph
(2) shall cease to apply to any insurance producer
if—
265
(A) the State insurance regulator renews
the license of such producer in the State in
which the license was suspended or revoked; or
(B) the suspension or revocation is subse-
quently overturned.
(b) AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH MEMBERSHIP CRI-
TERIA.—The Association shall have the authority to estab-
lish membership criteria that—
(1) bear a reasonable relationship to the pur-
poses for which the Association was established; and
(2) do not unfairly limit the access of smaller
agencies to the Association membership.
(c)
ESTABLISHMENT
OF
CLASSES
AND
CAT-
EGORIES.—
(1) CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP.—The Associa-
tion may establish separate classes of membership,
with separate criteria, if the Association reasonably
determines that performance of different duties re-
quires different levels of education, training, or expe-
rience.
(2) CATEGORIES.—The Association may estab-
lish separate categories of membership for individ-
uals and for other persons. The establishment of any
such categories of membership shall be based either
on the types of licensing categories that exist under