The Producer Licensing (EX) Working Group met on Sunday morning at the 2013 Summer Meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in Indianapolis, IN to discuss the recommendations it will make at the Producer Licensing (EX) Task Force meeting, which will be held on Sunday afternoon. Of particular note, the Working Group discussed issues concerning the uniformity and reciprocity of Independent Adjuster licenses, including the following:
- The development of a best practice whereby non-residents seeking licensure are prohibited from receiving “home state” designation in a non-resident state if their state of domicile offers independent adjuster licenses. The concern is that persons may forum shop to find a state with, among other things, lower education requirements or which does not require fingerprinting. The Working Group would also like to see states update their statutes and regulations to be in line with the NAIC models as it would resolve several other licensing reciprocity issues.
- The development of a best practice whereby licensing exams are broken down by specific lines of authority, rather than individuals taking a single exam, as is currently done in some states.
- If not already in place, states should adopt remote electronic notification registration processes and guidelines for the review and authorization of emergency catastrophic adjusters. The Working Group is concerned that following a catastrophic event, a state’s computer system could be offline which could allow non-qualified individuals to act as adjusters and/or delay necessary services from being provided to residents.
The Working Group plans to review the requirements applicable to public adjusters and company staff adjusters at a later date. Also discussed during the meeting were revisions to the definitions of standardized terms related to the guidelines for approval of courses offered by continuing education providers and the deadlines for roster filing.