Kevin Doherty, GCA president and partner with the law firm of Gladstone, Doherty & Associates in Atlanta, spoke to CARFM at the meeting regarding Georgia's continued support of the captive industry and future plans to add more captives in that domicile.

"The Georgia Captive Association needs to join as many of these groups as we can because it helps legitimize us," Mr. Doherty told National Underwriter. "At the same time, we want to have a voice in any decisions made on behalf of the industry. We want to be as active as we can be."

The Georgia association, he said, has 16 licensed captives, making it the third-largest domicile nationally. Vermont is the largest domicile with 387 captives and Hawaii is second with 87.

Mr. Doherty said one application is currently pending. The majority of captives formed in Georgia are for workers' compensation coverage, he said.

Mr. Doherty hopes to see two legislative changes adopted in Georgia?the addition of employee benefits captives and a reduction of the state's premium tax. The premium tax can be as high as 4.75 percent or as low as 3 percent on a Georgia-based risk. There is no tax on non-Georgia-based risk, he said.

CARFM said it expects to further expand the coalition in the near future by adding new captive domicile associations as members.

At the meeting, a number of issues were discussed which CARFM intends to monitor throughout the upcoming year.

These focus items include possible amendments to the federal Liability Risk Retention Act; government sponsorship for terrorist insurance coverage; the progress of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development activities, a Paris-based group that monitors jurisdictions participating in harmful tax practices; and federal tax inversion legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D- Mass., and U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, R- Colorado.

CARFM is concerned that the tax inversion legislation would "enable the Internal Revenue Service to attribute underwriting and investment income earned on a reinsurance cession between a U.S. insurer and its foreign owner to the U.S. subsidiary," said CARFM secretary Jon Harkavy, who represents the National Risk Retention Association and is vice president and general counsel, Risk Services, in Arlington, Va.

CARFM also held its annual election at the meeting for 2002-03 officers and board members. CARFM member association-organization board representatives are:

Colorado Association of Captive Entities, Michael Murphy, treasurer; Georgia Captive Association, Kevin Doherty; Hawaii Captive Insurance Council, Gerald Yoshida; Illinois Captive & Alternative Risk Funding Insurance Association, R. Michael Cass; National Risk Retention Association, Jon Harkavy, secretary; Risk and Insurance Management Society, Joanne Waldman, first vice president; Vermont Captive Insurance Association, Lisa Ventriss, president.

CARFM is a voluntary non-profit coalition formed by numerous trade associations representing companies that choose alternative risk funding options over traditional insurance programs.