Posted: 1/10/2011

Virginia: 2011 Legislative Session

The Virginia Legislature is set to convene on Wednesday. Below is a list of bills that may be of interest. NAMIC would very much like to hear from you about your company’s interest on these bills, particularly if you feel strongly about a specific measure and believe it warrants aggressive lobbying from us.

We expect that many more bills of interest may be introduced this week, so make sure that you sign up for Virginia alerts at NAMIC Online. If you have any questions or concerns throughout the session please don’t hesitate to call on me.

To view the full text of bills, please visit NAMIC’s legislative tracking page. If you would like to receive free alerts and tracking from our LARIS service, please visit the link above and contact us if you have any questions while registering. Or click here and insert the bill number.

HB 1586

Title: Professional Liability Insurance Policies

Author: Kilgore (R)

Disposition: Pending – Carryover

House Commerce and Labor Committee

Makes professional liability insurance policies eligible for the exemptions that currently exist for most types of policies written for large commercial risks; currently, professional liability insurance and workers' compensation insurance are the only lines of insurance excluded from the provision that exempts insurance of large commercial risks from requirements that policy forms and rates be filed with, and approved by, the State Corporation Commission.

HB 1504

Title: Insurance Companies

Author Ware, R. (R)

Disposition: Pending – Carryover House

Commerce and Labor Committee

Establishes conditions under which domestic insurers may engage in transactions involving derivative instruments, including options, warrants, caps, floors, collars, swaps, forwards, and futures; provides that derivative instruments may be used to engage in hedging transactions and replication transactions provided insurers establish written guidelines for their use and procedures to determine that their transactions comply with such guidelines; provides that guidelines shall be submitted to the State.

HB 1458

Title: Retained Asset Accounts

Author: Marshall, R. (R)

Disposition: Pending – Carryover House Commerce and Labor Committee

Establishes requirements for all insurance companies licensed in the Commonwealth that offer retained asset accounts for death benefits; requires an insurer to obtain the written consent of a beneficiary or policy owner before using a retained asset account as a mode of settlement; prohibits the use of such accounts as a default for settlements; provides that an insurer shall provide all available benefit payment options; provides that a violation is considered a unfair trade practice.

HB 1412

Title: Vehicles Damaged by Water

Author: Hugo (R)

Disposition: Pending – Carryover

House Transportation Committee

Increases threshold for reporting water damage from $1,000 to $3,500; requires insurance companies to report payment of such a claim to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

HB 1403

Title: Forfeiture of Vehicle Used to Elude Police

Author: Loupassi (R)

Disposition: Pending – Carryover

House Courts of Justice Committee

Provides that any vehicle driven to elude police and in such a manner as to interfere with or endanger the operation of a law enforcement vehicle or officer or to endanger a person shall be forfeited and sold by the sheriff.

Direct questions to NAMIC State Affairs Manager Erin Collins.