President’s Message

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our members. I’m focusing my remarks this month on the important role our association plays in the legislative and regulatory process. I think we all understand that our great business is regulated on the state level. This creates a challenge for the IIA of IL to ensure the voices of our members are represented in Springfield. In order to represent the independent agency channel, the IIA staff takes a very intentional approach to creating relationships with the IL Legislature and IL Department of Insurance. Invariably, several pieces of legislation surface each year that, if passed, would have a very negative impact on our clients and our independent agency channel. At the same time, each year, there are several items our association is typically introducing that benefit the independent agency channel and our clients. The one constant we could all agree on is that our business continues to be challenged by new proposed regulation and legislation.

I was planning to share some detailed examples of recent rules and bills that have been contemplated or adopted recently that impact our business to demonstrate the power of government relations. However, I decided against that since Evan Manning does such a good job on a very regular basis keeping our membership updated on legislative and regulatory issues. In fact, I urge you to read Evan’s update in this current issue of Insight.

I want to focus a few words on how you can help. There are three ways you can impact your business legislatively.

1.Hire professional and competent representation in

Springfield. The great news is that you have already done this very well. By your commitment to membership in the IIA, you have Evan Manning, Brett Gerger, and

Phil Lackman working every day for all of you. I can tell you from personal experience that all three of these gentlemen are so well respected by legislators and regulators. They are all known for being very fair in their approach. They are relied on by legislators and regulators for guidance, education, and counsel on many relevant insurance related issues.

2.Get to know your local legislators and stay informed. There are dozens of new legislators in the 102nd General

Assembly, so this is a perfect opportunity for you to reach out and develop a relationship. Know your legislator - reach out, meet them and become a resource for them in your local community. It is also important that Evan is aware of your relationship, as these connections are one of our strongest advocacy assets. Please take a few minutes out of your schedule and read updates from Evan and our government relations committee. The IIA staff always appreciates any perspective you have, so make sure your voice is heard if you have something to contribute. 3.Contribute to IIAPAC every year. Currently, only 22% of our members are contributing each year. We can do better and we need to do better. IIAPAC benefits 100% of our members but, currently, only 25% of our members are supporting IIPAC.

We have found that the biggest reason our contribution percentage is low is that most of you are so busy and don’t realize you are not contributing. I have sent a video message urging this support. The IIAPAC provides the funding to create and strengthen relationships with many key legislators that impact our business. As you know, Illinois has a new House Speaker, new Director of Insurance, and several new legislators. The legislative agenda is very aggressive this year.

Help us defend the Independent Agency system by sending your IIAPAC donation in today. My Message is simple.

We are all in this together. Therefore, I am asking all of you to simply go to iiaofil.org and give to IIAPAC today. Nobody will judge the contribution amount. Whether you are comfortable with $25, $50 or $500, it’s completely up to you.

Again, on behalf of all of our members, a special thank you to our IIA staff for all you do every day to protect and promote the independent agent channel.

All the Best,

George Daly with former Senate Insurance Committee Chair John Mulroe and IIA of IL CEO Phil Lackman