IIABL STAFF

JEFF ALBRIGHT

Chief Executive Officer jalbright@iiabl.com (225) 236-1366

BENJAMIN ALBRIGHT

Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives balbright@iiabl.com (225) 236-1357

KATHLEEN O'REGAN

Director of Communications & Events koregan@iiabl.com (225) 236-1360

KAREN KUYLEN

Director of Accounting & Finance kkuylen@iiabl.com (225) 236-1353

RHONDA MARTINEZ

Director of Insurance Programs rmartinez@iiabl.com (225) 236-1352

JAMIE NEWCHURCH

Director of Insurance Programs jnewchurch@iiabl.com (225) 236-1350

LISA YOUNG-CROOKS

Director of Member Relations lyoung@iiabl.com (225) 236-1351

CONTENTS

05

2022 IIABL LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

10 IIABL WORK IN WASHINGTON, DC 12CONVENTION HIGHLIGHTS

18153 E. Petroleum Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70809 Ph: (225) 819-8007

www.iiabl.com TABLE OF CONTENTS & FEATURED STORIES 02 IIABL STAFF

At your service!

15 ARE YOU PREPARED FOR RISING

INTEREST RATES?

By Matthew Sprang 18 GREAT RESIGNATION OR GREAT

REGRET

How you can attract - and keep - your best people 21 INSURTECH TOOLS

For every business category 25 VIDEO EDITING WITH MICROSOFT

WINDOWS 10

Catalyit Corner - Tip #7 27 6 STEPS TO CREATING PRODUCER

ACCOUNTABILITY

By Zack Pittman, Marsh Berry Vice-President

31 FLOOD TALKING POINTS

National Flood Insurance Program 32 IS YOUR AGENCY HEALTHY?

Carey Wallace, Agency Focus LLC

35 PREPARING A HOME INVENTORY

BEFORE STORM SEASON EASES THE

PATH TO FATER CLAIM SETTLEMENT

Nany Germond

38 A SECRET TOOL FOR RESOLVING

INSURANCE COVERAGE & CLAIMS

DISPUTES

By Bill Wilson 41 WHY DEFINING ACTUAL CASH VALUE IS

AMAZINGLY DIFFICULT

By Chris Boggs 49 ADVERTISER INDEX 50 IIABL EDUCATION UPDATE 52 INDUSTRY PARTNERS 53 IIABL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

2022 IIABL LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

S E S S I O N L E G I S L A T I V E R E G U L A R

By:JeffAlbright,IIABLCEO

JEFF ALBRIGHT 2022 was the most difficult legislative session for the insurance industry in anyone’s memory. The industry was under attack on a daily basis as legislators reflected the frustration and anger of their constituents over the slow and difficult resolution of claims from four hurricanes over the past two years. IIABL set a new legislative session record, lobbying 207 bills in the Louisiana Legislature this year.

IIABL deployed a two-part strategy to deal with the onslaught of bad insurance legislation.

The first strategy was to support reasonable insurance reforms in recognition of the real problems that policyholder faced in the catastrophe claims settlement process.

The second strategy was to educate legislators about the catastrophically difficult insurance markets in Louisiana at this time, and to urge them not to destroy our market with unreasonable legislative penalties on insurance companies.

Our strategy worked remarkably well. We are pleased to report that most of the legislation that passed are bills that IIABL supported. Very few bills that IIABL opposed became law.

IIABL Supported

HB 317 (Matthew Willard) – Requires a signed disclosure form for wind deductibles. As originally filed, HB 317 and SB 150 made the disclosure part of the policy and was a E&O minefield for agents. Rep Willard accepted all IIABL amendments to protect agents and is now a simple signed disclosure. HB 317 became Act 331.

HB 521 (Mike Huval) – Requires insurers to have catastrophe response plans. IIABL asked Chairman Huval to file HB 521 to ensure that insurers have detailed catastrophe claims response plans in place before hurricane season. HB 521 became Act 157.

HB 539 (Gabe Firment) – Building contractor reforms. HB 539 limits how contractors engage in the insurance adjustment and claim payment process. HB 539 awaits governor signature. HB 558 (Matthew Willard) – Requires insurers to provide breakdown of claim payment by type of coverage under the insurance policy. IIABL opposed the bill as originally filed. HB 558 would have required all cat claims be paid within 90days. IIABL worked with Rep Willard to replace the original language with language which requires claim payments to distinguish payment of different coverages, so that policyholders can claim their personal property and ALE payments. HB 558 awaits governor signature.

HB 612 (Mike Huval) – Establishes the Fortified Homes Program, which will pay grants to homeowner’s who retrofit their homes to comply with the Fortified Home standards. HB 612 awaits governor signature.

HB 682 (Chad Brown) – SB 330 (Jeremy Stine) –Creates a LDI claims adjuster database which allows policyholders to obtain background information about adjusters. HB 682 became Act 389.

HB 831 (Gabe Firment) – Requires insurers to pay an advance on ALE coverage of at least 3 months in the event of a total loss. HB 831 awaits governor signature.

HB 866 (Larry Frieman) – SB 264 (Joseph Bouie) –Increases insurer minimum capital requirements from $3M to $10M. HB 866 became Act 60. SB 264 became Act 69.

HB 870 (Jeremy Lacombe) – SB 117 (Jay Luneau) –Requires coverage for temporary use of vehicles not owned by the insured. These bills overturn the recent Landry v. Progressive Louisiana Supreme Court case which allowed insurers to limit nonowned auto coverage. HB 870 became Act 93. SB 117 became Act 77.

HB 1064 (Les Farnum) – Prescribes how mortgage holders must pay insurance claim proceeds to policyholders in an effort to make it easier for policyholders to receive funds. HB 1064 awaits governor signature.

SB 163 (Kirk Talbot) – Requires insurers to provide policyholders with a catastrophe claims process disclosure at the time of a claim. SB 163 was introduced at the request of IIABL to provide valuable claim information to policyholders at the time of the claim. SB 163 became Act 80.

SB 168 (Mark Abraham) – Amends the commercial lines calendar year deductible statute to apply to both admitted and nonadmitted insurers but exempts policies with a total insured value of greater than twenty million dollars. SB 168 became Act 259.

SB 198 (Kirk Talbot) – Requires insurers to provide a claims summary, contact person, and additional information if more than 3 adjusters have been assigned to a claim. This bill will help solve the “ adjuster churn” problems experienced by policyholders. SB 198 became Act 263. SB 209 (Jeremy Stine) – Doubles the maximum fine the Commissioner can levy against insurers from $250,000 to $500,000. Stronger regulatory penalties are much preferred to increase bad faith damages which will generate more litigation against insurers. SB 209 awaits governor signature.

SB 212 (Jeremy Stine) – Establishes the Hurricane Mediation Program. SB 212 await governor signature.

SB 412 (Kirk Talbot) – Establishes the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program to provide financial incentives for insurers to write more property insurance in Louisiana. It is unclear whether the Legislature will fund this program. SB 412 awaits governor signature.

IIABL is Neutral

LOUISIANAAGENT C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 7

IIABL Opposes

HB 83 (Laurie Schlegel) – SB 134 (Kirk Talbot) –Statutorily expands the trigger for Civil Authority ALE coverage following a catastrophe on residential property insurance policies. This will benefit policyholders, but it is very troubling to see the Legislature statutorily expand contract language, so IIABL remained neutral. HB 83 became Act 434. SB 214 (Jay Luneau) – Requires Louisiana venue for out-of-state claims adjusters. SB 214 became Act 504.

IIABL WORK IN WASHINGTON, DC

In addition to IIABL’s work with the Louisiana Legislature, the association promotes our members’ interests in Washington DC. The national legislative team works year round to develop relationships with legislators and defend the interests of independent insurance agents in Congress. IIABL members and staff recently joined the national legislative staff on the hill to discuss insurance issues with the Louisiana Congressional delegation and promote member interests. This kind of grass roots support in D.C. is critical for legitimizing and empowering our national team’s lobbying efforts throughout the year, and IIABL’s voice was heard by our delegation.

Unsurprisingly, the first national legislative topic for many of our members was the National Flood Insurance Program.

B y B e n A l b r i g h t I I A B L V P o f S t r a t e g i c I n i t a t i v e s

IIABL discussed the need for a long-term reauthorization of the program, allowing private flood coverage to satisfy the continuous coverage requirements for NFIP, and revisions to Risk Rating 2.0. Risk Rating 2.0 was a particularly hot topic with needs ranging from increased transparency on the rating factors and the economic impact of the changes to proposals for rate relief for policyholders that have seen massive negative effects from the sudden change.

A couple of other perennial topics at these meetings that remain important on the agenda are small business taxation and the Federal Crop Insurance Program. With key deductions for small businesses expiring in 2025, the Big I continues to advocate for renewal of the credits and independent agencies’ financial wellbeing on the hill. Similarly, the current Farm Bill expires in 2023, and we continue to push for reauthorization and strengthening the bill to provide certainty for the crop insurance market . and the farmers and communities that it supports

A few of the newer items on the agenda include data security regulations and legal protections for insurance agents around marijuana. Louisiana implemented an insurance industry data security law, forcing many agents to undergo time consuming and expensive changes to their data privacy and cyber security protocols. IIABL urged our legislators to leave that regulation at the state level and help prevent any federal regulation which would necessitate an additional change and expense for our members. Similarly, Louisiana’s medical marijuana laws present potential issues for insurance agents because marijuana continues to be classified as an illegal substance at a federal level. IIABL urged our Congressional delegation to extend protection to agents that insure any operations related to these emerging risks as long as they are compliant with state law.