NAFA Fly-In To Promote Annuity Bill To Senators

March 02, 2010 at 07:00 PM

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The National Association for Fixed Annuities is planning a fly-in visit to Capitol Hill to promote S. 1389-legislation that would ensure that annuities cannot be regulated as securities.

An estimated 150 members and supporters of the association will fly to Washington, D.C. March 16-17 to visit with lawmakers about that bill, says Kim O'Brien, executive director of the Milwaukee, Wisc., trade group.

The move is part of NAFA's continuing effort to block federal initiatives, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 151A, that would treat indexed annuities as securities.

The association will target visits to senators, especially those sitting on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, says O'Brien.

That committee is now considering financial services legislation, she explains. "That is a good match for our bill."

NAFA is seeking to have the senators advancing the bill, either by attaching it to existing legislation already in committee as an amendment or considering it as an independent piece of legislation, O'Brien says.

By the time lawmakers return from spring recess, the focus on Capitol Hill will have shifted to other issues, "so this is the right time" to take action to garner support, she adds.

Sponsored by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), S. 1389 has a total of 15 cosponsors in the Senate. The House version, H.R. 2733, has close to 80 cosponsors, O'Brien says.

Three earlier NAFA fly-ins, conducted in 2009, had targeted representatives in the House.

"Everything in financial services reform is moving fast right now," says O'Brien, referring to legislation involving financial services, banking, and consumer protection. "We want to be in the water, with our bill in hand."

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