If Blair O'Connor gets his way, at least 100 opponents of the SEC's Rule 151A will converge in Washington, D.C. this Wednesday to lobby for passage of a Senate bill intended to block the SEC's efforts.
O'Connor, president of the Sterling Heights, MI-based Producer's Choice, is also the legislative affairs committee chair for the National Association for Fixed Annuities (NAFA). NAFA is supporting the fly-in, along with the Coalition for Insured Products; the Independent Fixed Annuities Agents Council (IFAAC), headed by O'Connor, is funding the event.
According to representatives from each group, the fly-in's primary purpose is to show support for S. 1389, the companion bill to H.R. 2733, or the Indexed Annuities and Insurance Products Classification Act of 2009 bill. Both are designed to classify fixed annuities as a non-security, which would essentially render moot the SEC's attempts to do the opposite – call fixed annuities securities that are subject to SEC control and oversight.
So what does this all mean to you? Well, Allison Bell of National Underwriter will be in D.C. starting this Tuesday evening, and will be tweeting live from the fly-in all day Wednesday, March 17. You can keep up with Allison's updates at National Underwriter's dedicated 151A fly-in page, or follow the discussion on Twitter – she and others tweeting about the event will be using the hashtag #rule151a.
