On March 13, 2007, Rep. David Scott (D-GA) and Rep. Geoff Davis introduced federal legislation (HR 5611) that seeks 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 approved by the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises on July 9, 2008. It will now move on to either the full Financial Services Committee or will go straight to the House Floor.

NAIFA supports the enactment of NARAB II because it would allow producers who are licensed to operate in multiple states to comply with a single set of non resident licensing and continuing education rules.

Listen to the NAIFA GovPod that describes the NARAB II proposal.

Read NAIFA's Letter of Support for 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.