Legislation to make it easier for insurance agents and brokers to obtain national licenses was introduced into Congress, making it the latest in a serious of insurance regulatory reform efforts being weighed by lawmakers.

The bill creates the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers, a non-profit corporation to provide reciprocal non-resident insurance agent and broker licensing while preserving state insurance regulation. Producers would have to submit to a national criminal background check and would pay a fee to be a NARAB member, according to the bill’s provisions.

David Scott

The introduction by Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.) and Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) of the National Association for Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2009, known informally as NARAB II, comes one year after similar legislation passed in the full House of Representatives, but never reached the Senate floor.

But the bill falls short of a national insurance regulator. States would continue to be able to license, supervise, discipline and set licensing fees for producers. Individual states also would enforce its laws and regulations on unfair practices and consumer protection.

Only 17 states require criminal background checks, according to the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, which supports the bill because it streamlines licensing for agents from state to state.