National Insurance Act repitched

The first bipartisan House version of the National Insurance Act of 2007 was reintroduced today. The new legislation would provide insurers with an optional federal charter. Insurers and others in the industry can choose to be regulated by the federal government, rather than individual states. Reinsurers, insurance producers, property-casualty and life insurers would be covered under these new regulations. The Act would also create the Office of National Insurance, which would oversee agents who are federally regulated. Currently, state regulators are the gatekeepers in charge of when insurance companies can bring new products to the marketplace in their operative states. Representatives Melissa Bean, D-Ill., and Ed Royce, R-Calif., are behind the House bill, which accompanies the Senate legislation written by John Sununu, R-NH, and Tim Johnson, D-SD.