Field Trip To Congress Part Of AALU Meeting

"As often as we possibly can, we need to go to Capitol Hill as the life insurance industry," Woods says. "Not NAIFA or AALU or an individual company, but the life insurance industry."

William R. Anderson, NAIFAs senior vice president of law and government relations, adds that the joint lobbying strengthens the ability of members of Congress to identify the 3 groups as the "life insurance industry," as opposed to the rest of the insurance industry.

Plybon says that during this years Capitol Hill visits, one of the primary issues agents will discuss is the estate tax. Agents, he notes, will make the case for permanent reform as opposed to repeal.

Indeed, he says, in an era of budget deficits, many people on Capitol Hill who advocated repeal are now talking about reform.

The industry has already met with some senators, Plybon notes, who are asking for more information on the estate tax, including its historic background and some of the economic statistics.

In addition, Plybon says, the industry is concerned over Bush administration proposals on Lifetime Savings Accounts and Retirement Savings Accounts. Moreover, he says, corporate-owned life insurance is still in play.

Anderson says that another issue the industry will raise involves the fees paid to registered representatives for administration of mutual funds, known as 12b-1 fees.

Legislation pending on Capitol Hill, Anderson says, could eliminate these fees. He says that NAIFA favors more disclosure to consumers regarding 12b-1 fees, but registered representatives should continue to receive fees for work done.

Larry Raymond, who chairs AALUs Political Involvement Committee, says that AALU and NAIFA members can make a significant difference through their political involvement and the key contact relationships they have developed.

"We have worked hard to motivate and train more members to broaden our current and future influence," Raymond says.

"We are very fortunate to have a committed core of volunteers and leaders in this process who are working in all regions and states to build our industrys strength and ability to protect our clients," he says.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 23, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.