On March 17, 2009, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) announced the release of an update (the “2009 Update”) to its 2008 assessment of state producer licensing laws, practices and processes (the “2008 Assessment”).  The goal of the 2008 Assessment was to identify the areas in which states may improve their efforts to establish reciprocity and uniformity in the producer licensing process.  As part of the 2008 Assessment, a team of 12 producer licensing regulators and 10 NAIC staff divided into teams of three and conducted comprehensive on-site visits to the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, to evaluate the laws and processes of each jurisdiction.

The NAIC reported in the 2009 Update that the 2008 Assessment yielded an accurate picture of the status of uniformity and reciprocity among the states.  Accompanying outreach efforts have contributed to increased compliance, uniformity and reciprocity.  Since the 2008 Assessment, six new states were formally certified as meeting the NAIC’s reciprocity standard, raising the total number of states to 47.  In addition, there was a total of 98 instances where states moved from noncompliant to compliant, including:

–    Complying with the uniformity standard specifying the appropriate number and definitions of limited lines of authority by six additional states, raising the total number of states to 26;
–    Requiring fingerprinting by three additional states, raising the total number of states to 16; and
–    Utilizing the NAIC uniform applications by eight additional states, raising the total number of states to 33.

To view the full text of the 2009 update, click here.