NCOIL: Property & Casualty Committee Adopts NAMIC-Supported Public Adjuster Model

The National Council of Insurance Legislators’ Property & Casualty Committee held an interim meeting Feb. 2 to discuss two issues that were carried over from the November annual meeting in Columbus:

• The Public Adjuster Professional Standards Reform Model Act: Kentucky Rep. Michael Meredith discussed the model law and highlighted some of its provisions, including fee caps of 15 percent for non-catastrophic claims of the total insurance recovery and 10 percent for catastrophic claims. The model includes a drafting note to suggest the fee caps included in the model are the maximum fees and states may impose lower caps. The committee unanimously adopted the model, and it will now be placed on the NCOIL Executive Committee agenda for ratification at the spring meeting in Nashville.

NAMIC supported and offered numerous suggestions to improve the model throughout the model, many of which were incorporated into the final version.

• The committee also continued its consideration of a Catalytic Converter Theft Prevention Model Act. Committee members discussed the option of continuing work on the model or pivoting to a resolution. The committee considered proposed amendments from the National Insurance Crime Bureau that would create a Department of Insurance Study on the economic impact of catalytic converter thefts on the insurance industry and establish a task force for the prevention, reduction, and investigation of catalytic converter theft. These amendments will be considered further at the spring meeting.