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From Your IIABA National Director
From Your IIABA National Director The "Why" of Our Federal Involvement
As I write this, we have just completed the largest Big "I" Legislative Conference in our Association's history, with over 3,500 attendees. The difference this year? We had a virtual event for the first time ever in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic. Over 70 attendees were from Tennessee, and we continued our strong involvement by winning our second straight Eagle Award. The award signifies contributions to our national PAC at a level over $100 per agency. We even placed 6th among all states in total dollars raised!
So, why does any of that matter? Why do we so often talk about the political involvement of our Association? Before I got more involved in the Insurors Board, I had many of the same questions. But then I began to see the impact that Big "I" has on the Federal level in addition to our State efforts. Let's just take a look at how some of those Federal efforts have impacted our industry in the last few years.
Tax Reform
The Big "I" secured a significant victory for its members when Congress passed and the Treasury Department implemented tax reform – and a survey confirmed that an overwhelming majority of Big “I" members saw tangible tax savings regardless of corporate structure. In fact, 49% of Big "I" members classified as C-corps, and 66% of members classified as pass-through entities saw savings greater than $5,000.
As tax reform made its way through Congress, the Big “I" left nothing on the table, tirelessly advocating for all independent agencies. The Big “I" federal advocacy team pounded the pavement daily and leveraged InsurPac, our Federal political action committee, to develop and strengthen relationships with legislators who were shaping the public policy debate. InsurPac involvement helped move the needle and achieve real results for independent agents, as it does time and time again on all issues.
Cadillac Tax Repeal/TRIA & NFIP
at the end of 2019 which reauthorized the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), extends the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and repeals the Affordable Care Act’s “Cadillac Tax" provision. These were three major priorities for Big "I" and its members, and they were the result of many hours of work by the Federal legislative team.
Work Against Pandemic Fallout
As the pandemic fallout continues around the world, the Big "I" is fighting here in D.C. to make sure that retroactive business interruption (BI) coverage for COVID-19 claims does not gain traction. The Big “I” created a document that explains what BI coverage does and does not cover and why attempting to revise insurance contracts retroactively is a bad idea. The document notes that legislatively rewriting existing insurance contracts by somehow nullifying the virus exclusion or the physical damage requirement would be unconstitutional.
The Association is working closely with the business community on a proposal that would enable those in need to receive compensation from the federal government. The proposal, titled the COVID-19 Business and Community Continuity and Recovery Fund (the "Recovery Fund"), is modeled after a streamlined version of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund legislation, with important distinctions designed to simplify the application process and speed payment to COVID-19-impaired business, while reducing the potential for fraud.
In addition, the Big "I" is continuing to provide guidance for agencies who were able to take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program and CARES Act. They also worked with carriers to develop their own fund for independent agencies, which has distributed close to $2 million in funds to date.
Agent Involvement is Key
Hopefully, this provides you some answers on both why we talk about it and why it is important to be involved. Please participate with us! u
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