State Lawmakers Oppose SOX Expansion

Members of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators have rejected the idea of imposing Sarbanes-Oxley Act governance and accounting standards on non-public insurers.

Lawmakers voted unanimously at NCOIL’s recent spring meeting for a resolution opposing efforts by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., to apply SOX standards to mutual insurers and other non-public insurers through revisions to the NAIC Model Audit Rule.

Complying with SOX appears to be very expensive even for large public companies, and insurers already undergo extensive solvency exams by state insurance regulators, according to members of NCOIL, Troy, N.Y.