On March 13, 2008, Rep. David Scott (D-GA) and Rep. Geoff Davis introduced federal legislation to streamline the multistate licensing process for insurance producers without creating a federal regulator. The National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act — or “NARAB II” as the bill is informally called — would create an organization whose specific jurisdiction would be the oversight of producer reciprocal licensing and continuing education standards on a national level. The bill was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 17, 2008 but, due to a lack of time and other more pressing legislative priorities in the Senate, NARAB II did not become law in the 110th Congress. On May 21, 2009 NARAB II (H.R. 2554) was reintroduced by Representatives David Scott (D-GA) and Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), along with more than 30 of their bipartisan House colleagues. It is expected to be taken up for House floor action before the fall of 2009. NAIFA is also working with industry partners to pursue introduction of a companion NARAB II in the U.S. Senate.

NAIFA supports the enactment of NARAB II because it would allow producers who are licensed to operate in multiple states to comply with one set of licensing and continuing education requirements for all of their non resident licenses.

Read NAIFA's NAIFA’s April 2009 Letter to Congress in Support
of NARAB II

The concept of NARAB or the“National Association of Registered Agents & Brokers” was originally included in the Financial Services Modernization Act, known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act), which was enacted in 1999. The original NARAB would have established a licensure clearing house if a majority of the states did not enact reciprocity legislation within three years after the enactment of GLB. Because the states determined that the threshold was satisfied, the clearing house was never established. However, issues burdening the ability for both individuals and agencies to obtain licenses on a multi-state basis remain, and the intent of the new effort – dubbed “NARAB II” – is to move forward with actually establishing the clearing house for interstate licensure.