Commissioners Agree: U.S. Needs Uniform Regulations.

State insurance regulators overwhelmingly approved a project to revamp state regulation and signed on to a sweeping pledge to make state regulation more efficient, effective and uniform.

At the outset, 49 of 51 insurance regulators, including the District of Columbia, approved a pledge primarily crafted by George Nichols, president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and commissioner of Kentucky.

"Our primary goal is to protect insurance consumers," the NAIC said in a statement. "We also recognize that consumers as well as companies are well served by efficient, market-oriented regulation of the business of insurance."

In part, regulators are working to preserve their roles as the overseers of the insurance industry. But they also recognize the need to have more uniform laws across the nation and the need to work together to implement the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

"If I had a hat, I would take it off to you right now," Nichols told commissioners during the opening session of the NAIC's Spring National Meeting in Chicago. "This day will move on and become a faint memory, but its implications will not."

Arizona and Hawaii did not sign the pact. Arizona Commissioner Charles Cohen said his state would likely sign it. Hawaii regulators didn't attend the meeting.

Commissioners were excited about a "new NAIC" that could swiftly respond to market changes.

"I have been supportive of it since the very beginning," said Georgia Commissioner John Oxendine. He added that pressures in the insurance industry and across all lines of commerce have led to the NAIC's direction.

David Parsons, acting commissioner of Alabama, agreed. "This is a step in the right direction. In many ways, it's long overdue."

Industry groups were also supportive. "It's a very positive step forward and a movement toward greater focus," said Robert Zeman of the National Association of Independent Insurers.

Lenore Marema of the Alliance of American Insurers was impressed by the NAIC's requests for help from insurers and consumers. "They are committed. They're really asking us how to do this," Marema said. "They're talking about working together in a uniform way."

The plan, outlined in a "Statement of Intent: The Future of Insurance Regulation" seeks to implement a new federal financial-services law and retain state regulators' oversight of the insurance marketplace.

State regulators have felt pressure from insurance trade groups that have proposed a dual system of regulation that would allow insurers to choose federal regulation or state oversight. This is similar to how the banking system is regulated. A new federal law also forces states to adopt uniform agent-licensing regulations and consider rules that would protect consumers' privacy.

Insurers say commissioners need to be involved for the plan to work. "We think your participation as commissioners is critical to this process," said Stephen Rahn of Lincoln National Corp.

NAIC Secretary-Treasurer Tern Vaughan of Iowa said many regulators have begun pitching the plan to governors and legislators. "This has to be our No. 1 priority," Vaughan said.