Gov. Jay Nixon today signed House Bill 50 to ensure that Missouri will remain accredited with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). House Bill 50 modernizes the regulation of insurance companies by making changes to the Model Insurance Holding Company Act and implementing the Risk Management and Own Risk and Solvency Assessment Model Act.

"I appreciate Insurance Director Huff and members of the General Assembly for working together to pass bipartisan legislation that will keep Missouri's insurance market strong, while protecting Missouri companies from redundant and costly out-of-state expenses," Gov. Nixon said. "By preventing unnecessary increases in insurance costs, we can continue to keep Missouri a great state to do business and create jobs."

The NAIC is the U.S. standard-setting and regulatory support organization governed by the chief insurance regulators from each state. Missouri Department of Insurance Director John M. Huff is currently the president-elect of NAIC and will serve as president in 2016.

As an NAIC accredited state, financial examinations conducted by the Missouri DIFP of Missouri-based insurance companies are accepted by other states where these companies do business.  Financial examinations monitor the financial condition of Missouri-based companies to prevent insolvencies and to take appropriate action against financially unsound companies in order to protect Missouri policyholders.

If Missouri were to lose NAIC accreditation, Missouri-based companies could be subject to potentially additional, costly financial examinations from every state in which they do business. 

The changes to the Model Insurance Holding Company Act include requiring the controlling entity of an insurance holding company to file an annual report; enhancing DIFP's access to books and records of affiliated entities within the holding company; establishing the procedures for DIFP to participate in supervisory colleges with other regulators; and clarifying the confidentiality of financial analysis and examination information received from companies.

The Risk Management and Own Risk and Solvency Assessment Model Act requires insurance companies to maintain a risk management framework, complete an internal assessment, and submit a summary report to the DIFP.

The Governor also signed the following bills:

House Bill 385, which adds a definition for "correspondence" and "sold" to the statutes that pertain to Real Estate Agents and Brokers.

House Bill 391, which allows insurers to send certain automobile insurance notices by first class mail using "Intelligent Mail barcode" or "another tracking method" used by the United States Postal Service.    

House Bill 1052, which clarifies that in most cases the survey and location of rights-of-way and easements is not an exclusive duty of professional land surveyors.