Government & Legal Update
Advocacy Update: Legislature Considers Important Insurance Bills; Big I Legislative Conf. At the time of this writing, the Legislature is at the peak of its work for the year as Committees begin to announce final calendars and the Legislature prepares to consider the state budget in anticipation of a late April to early May adjournment for the year. This has been another successful, albeit unconventional, year for the Insurors of Tennessee advocacy efforts. While we have not had many pieces of legislation that we have advocated in favor of, there have been some positive measures that we have worked on, as well as a few that we have been actively defending against or working to improve. Please take a look at some of the more recent issues we have worked on:
behind an effort to place more regulations on the ability of companies to track, buy, and sell the personal information and data of consumers. HB1467/SB1554 is primarily aimed at social media and search engine companies and seeks to ensure that consumers can control the use of their data by requiring these companies to first gain consent. Insurors can certainly understand the concern with the ways data has been tracked and used in recent years, but we are working to ensure that this legislation does not interfere with independent agents and their businesses.
Assignment of Benefits
Data and cybersecurity are hot topics this year, and this is further evidenced by SB0725/HB0766. This is an administration bill brought to the sponsors by the Department of Commerce and Insurance. The bill would make Tennessee the 12th state to adopt the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) model law regarding data security requirements for insurance carriers and agents. The bill’s requirements are very general in nature and include performing a risk assessment, having a security program in place, and requirements for responding to a breach.
This bill, SB1376/HB0523 by Sen. Mike Bell (R-Riceville) and Rep. Ron Gant (R-Rossville) clarifies in the law that the rights, duties, or benefits provided by a policy of insurance may be assigned only as expressly provided by the terms of the policy of insurance or as otherwise expressly allowed by the insurer. This bill is meant to deter unscrupulous cost increasing practices that the industry has seen in other states. The bill passed unanimously on the consent calendar in both the House and Senate. The bill was brought to the sponsors by the Farm Bureau, but Insurors also supported the bill and worked hard to push it over the goal line. Data Sharing Practices Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) and Sen. Mike Bell are
The Tennessee Insuror
Cybersecurity
We want to commend the Department and the bill sponsors for working with us on several concerns and requests we had for the legislation including the application of the bill, which will only apply to agencies who have 25 or more employees, have more than $5 million in annual revenue, or who have more than $10 million in year-end assets.
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