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Regulation and Compliance > State Regulation

Texas Eases Producer Licensing Rules

By Staff Writer

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NU Online News Service, Sept. 4, 10:23 a.m. – A law based on S.B. 414, a bill that makes it easier for out-of-state insurance agents and insurance brokers to do business in Texas, took effect Sept. 1.

One important provision of S.B. 414 allows non-resident corporate agencies and partnership-owned agencies to obtain licenses and solicit business directly within the state of Texas, according to the Texas Department of Insurance.

The bill also eliminates a requirement that all officers, directors and shareholders of a corporate agency — and all partners in a partnership-owned agency — live in Texas and hold agent licenses, the Texas department says.

A third change cuts down on the number of different agent license types.

Texas lawmakers enacted S.B. 414 in June.

The bill includes key licensing “reciprocity” requirements from the Uniform Producer Licensing Model Act.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 threatens to impose a federal producer licensing system on the states unless a majority of state legislatures and state insurance regulators come up with changes of their own to make it easier for producers to work outside their home states.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., proposed the uniform producer licensing model act in an effort to ward off the creation of the federal licensing system.