US HOUSE AGAIN WEIGHS INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE STANDARDS BILL

The US House of Representatives is again considering legislation – the bipartisan International Insurance Standards Act – that permits US negotiators engaged in international talks over insurance standards to agree to new standards only if they reflect and protect the existing US system of state-based regulation. The bill would also bar US negotiators from agreeing to standards inconsistent with federal and state insurance laws regulations and require state insurance commissioners to be part of the negotiating team. The House passed the legislation two times last year with near unanimous support only to see it stall in the Senate.