1. 2018 Classes are Up!
2. In Case You Missed It!
3. What an Election! So...Who Do You Know?
4. House Advances Flood Insurance Legislation
5. NAIC Passes Data Security Model Law

Agencies:

Associates

Once again the pundits were wrong….”it’s going to be a close race…a squeaker!” Who needs term limits when every once in a while you get – maybe – more than 20 new legislators in a group of 100? I have often and frequently marveled at the small ranks of “seasoned” legislators at the Virginia General Assembly. And this year, it appears that we have lost a couple of very good moderate Republicans and legislators who were friends of the industry. 

Time to make new friends.

The Treasury Department and IRS have published 2018 guidelines for Health Savings Accounts “HSA’s”

The 2018 guidelines are below:

HSA Contribution Limits
Individual Contribution Limit: $3,450
Family Contribution Limit: $6,900
(Age 55 catch-up provision 1k)

HSA Deductible Amounts
Individual Minimum Deductible: $1,350
Family Minimum Deductible: $2,700

HSA Out-of-Pocket (OOP) Amounts
Individual OOP Maximum: $6,650
Family OOP Maximum: $13,300

Monty Dise, President
Asset Protection Group, Inc.
mdise@apgroupinc.com
804-423-7700

How to Increase Productivity Working with Electronic Documents?

A question during a presentation last week reminded me of how small critical tools can maximize your productivity. Most agencies have moved to electronic document management and multiple monitors for processing. However, the comment during my presentation was about the difficulty of working with electronic documents on a screen. I have two recommendations, click learn more to find out what they are!

Q: Our owner has always distributed year-end bonuses to his employees based on how he “feels” about their performance. It’s his favorite time of year, but I worry that he’s playing favorites. Should I be concerned?

The holidays are upon us, and for many employers, this means bonuses and performance reviews.  While both activities may seem harmless – even positive – handled improperly, they become legal landmines. So, how do you handle these year-end rituals without exposing the organization to unnecessary risk?

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 14, 2017—Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2874, “The 21st Century Flood Reform Act,” introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin). This legislation reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years and makes several reforms to the program. The bill now heads to the Senate where lawmakers in that chamber will decide whether to take up the House version of the flood bill or craft their own reauthorization legislation.

“The Big ‘I’ appreciates the U.S. House of Representatives’ effort to grow our economy and create new jobs through a modernized tax code. Changes throughout the legislative process have made significant improvements to H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and provided more tax relief to small insurance agencies.  However, the Big ‘I’ remains concerned that the bill passed by the House of Representatives today would place a number of Big ‘I’ member businesses at a competitive disadvantage with their C Corporation counterparts and would create a new tax disparity between different types of pass-through businesses. The Big ‘I’ will continue to work with Congress and interested stakeholders to improve the provisions of this legislation related to pass-through taxation as the bill moves through the legislative process.”

As IIAV has closely followed and provided feedback, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) completed its consideration of and formally adopted its Insurance Data Security Model Law. Both IIABA and IIAV expressed concerns during the drafting and consideration of this measure as previous versions of the model law would have placed unduly burdensome and onerous requirements upon IIAV members not only in the protection of consumer data, but especially in the event of a data breach. The most troublesome requirement found in previous versions was that an agency owner purchase identity theft protection for all the agency's customers in the event of a data breach, at the agency owner's expense. Other requirements would have placed financial burdens upon small agencies not in a position to be able comply with the requirements. Moreover, no one could explain how the NAIC model would be an improvement for either the consumer or industry over and above the current requirements under the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. It frankly appeared to IIAV that the NAIC model was a brochure proposal for insurance commissioners in other states seeking a higher office. The version that passed the NAIC removes the identity theft protection requirement and makes the most restrictive requirements applicable only to agencies with ten or more employees. It will now be up to each state's legislature if the law will be implemented in a given state. IIAV will continue to track this and keep members informed of any requirements. It is not anticipated that the model will be introduced in Virginia.

Doris Brown of McCaleb-Metzler Insurance Agency passed away on November 11, 2017. She is survived by a son and daughter, two grandchildren and a great grandchild. Doris was born and raised in a farming family in Elwood, New York and moved to Virginia after she graduated high school. Doris was in the insurance industry for 54 years, and was always willing and wanting to help different organizations and the community.

Thanks to a partnership between IIAV and Insurance Journal’s Academy of Insurance, all 200-plus On Demand and Upcoming Live Academy of Insurance webinars are available to you at 25 percent off. Use discount code IIAV at checkout.

2018 is upon us and the education calendar is filling up! We also have some great opportunities for your professional growth coming up and we hope you’ll join us. Plus — don't forget about our designation programs. They will be back in full swing come January!

Business Skills education continues to grow in demand as we all want our team members to expand their knowledge and expertise. (We are offering a sample module, similar to the types of courses available in your state association’s online learning library.) Please share the Successful Project Management course with your staff – it’s free until the end of 2017! We are aiming to expand the library with more courses in 2018. 

by Linda S. Loving, CIC, AISM, AIAO
VFSC Executive Vice President

Most professional liability policies for insurance agencies (E&O) are written on a claims-made basis. For a claim to be covered, the claim must be first made and reported against the policyholder to the insurance company during the policy period. If a policy expires and a claim is thereafter made, the agency will not have coverage under that policy. Coverage is provided for claims made policies only if such claims arose from acts or omissions occurring during an insured period and reported before the extended reporting period ends. Some policies provide an automatic 60-day extension reporting period after the policy is terminated.

There's a major challenge facing our profession.

The need for highly-qualified, well-trained professionals is already significant; and within a few years, it will be drastic.