Early Bird Registration Discount Extended for Legal Seminar

NOLHGA is extending the $35 Early Bird discount deadline for the 2010 Legal Seminar from June 12 to June 16. Brochures for the Legal Seminar were mailed this week, and registrations should be made online at the meeting Web page.

NOLHGA's 2010 Legal Seminar will be held on July 15-16 at New York's Marriott Marquis in Times Square (an MPC meeting will be held on July 13 and 14). The program includes cutting-edge topics such as health-care reform, financial regulatory reform, risk management for board members, and pre-packaged bankruptcies. CLE credit will be available in all states requiring CLE.

Hotel reservations and other meeting information can be found on the meeting Web page. The NOLHGA room rate for meeting nights is $199/night plus tax; some additional nights are in the NOLHGA room block at a discounted rate of $259/night.

Financial Reform Legislation Committee Begins on June 10

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) announced on June 8 that the House and Senate conference on H.R. 4173, the financial regulatory reform legislation, would begin at 2:15 p.m. on June 10. The conference is expected to meet over the next few weeks with a goal of crafting a final bill by June 26 and voting on it in both Houses of Congress by July 2 in an effort to meet President Obama's request to sign the bill into law by July 4. Issues that must be rectified include the differences between derivatives language in the House and Senate bills and the possible inclusion of the "Volcker Rule" ban on proprietary trading and private equity investing by depository institutions.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) named House conferees on June 9: Chairman Frank, Paul Kanjorski (D-Penn.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Mel Watt (D-N.C.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Dennis Moore (D-Kans.), Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), Joe Barton (R-Tex.), Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), and Scott Garrett (R-N.J.).

Senate conferees have already been named. The conferees from the Senate Banking Committee are Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Tim Johnson (D-S.Dak.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). Senate Agriculture Committee conferees are Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

According to ACLI President Frank Keating, the issues important to the life industry that remain to be resolved include (1) whether insurers will fund the resolution authority for systemically significant companies; (2) ensuring that the resolution authority powers of the FDIC do not deprive insurance companies and their policyholders of the asset value inherent in the non-insurer subsidiaries of insurance companies by permitting the FDIC to divert that asset value to the resolution of a non-insurer parent or affiliate; (3) ensuring that the Volcker Rule, if it is included in the final bill, not be applied in a way that inadvertently hamstrings legitimate hedging by insurers through derivatives; (4) determining how changes in the treatment of derivatives would affect insurers; (5) exempting insurance companies from oversight by the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency; (6) ensuring that the proposed Federal Insurance Office or Office of National Insurance is given preemption powers regarding international agreements; and (7) ensuring that the Collins Amendment, which would impose higher capital requirements on bank holding companies, be altered to take into account the regulatory accounting procedures used by insurers and to give deference to applicable state laws governing risk-based capital for insurance companies.

April 2011 Meeting Dates & Location Confirmed

NOLHGA is pleased to announce that the April 2011 MPC meeting will be held on April 4-6 at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas. Additional information on this and other MPC meetings will appear in the NOLHGA Wire as it becomes available.

Nominees for NOLHGA Board Requested

On June 4, 2010, NOLHGA Chair Steve Lobell sent a letter to all guaranty association administrators and board members asking for nominations for the NOLHGA Board of Directors. To be eligible, nominees must serve as a member or alternate member of a guaranty association board, be the chief administrative officer of a member association, or be an officer of a member company of a guaranty association.

Recommendations are due by July 2 and should be accompanied by a written biographical summary or résumé for each nominee. Submissions should be sent to Holly Wilding ([email protected]; 703.787.4111).