His comments followed action in New Orleans, where the National Association of Insurance Commissioners convened and officially certified that 35 states have met the reciprocity threshold established in the NARAB provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act--six more than the minimum necessary of 29.

Under GLB, unless 29 states met standards providing for reciprocal treatment of non-resident producers by Nov. 12, a federal takeover of licensing procedures would have ensued through creation of a National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers.

Mr. Crerar said the council congratulated the states that were certified by the NAIC and commended NAIC President Terri Vaughan and NAIC Vice President Mike Pickens for their leadership on the producer licensing issue.

The Council, he said, also applauded the National Council of Insurance Legislators and other state lawmakers for making producer-licensing reform a priority issue during recent legislative sessions.

However, "while great strides have been made over the past few years to streamline and simplify the nonresident producer licensing system, some large hurdles remain," he said.

"Several of the largest licensing jurisdictions have not yet complied with NARAB reciprocity provisions," he noted. "New York and Pennsylvania are still working on reform legislation, while California and Florida recently enacted legislation that does little or nothing to move those states toward reciprocity. These four states alone account for nearly 30 percent of the insurance marketplace."

Mr. Crerar added that "all states must begin to move forward on reforming the onerous and confusing system of business entity licensing. Most states require business entities to obtain licenses, and the requirements for licensure are often unduly burdensome, especially for nonresident business entities."

He said that "until the business entity licensing quagmire is fixed, multistate producers will continue to face problems in getting licensed in all licensing jurisdictions--problems that divert productivity from the business of serving consumers."

Mr. Crerar took note of the fact that the NAIC at its meeting discussed uniform resident licensing requirements, addressing several areas not included within the NAIC's Producer Licensing Model Act.

The latest uniform licensing requirements would set standards in areas such as personal qualifications, license application and renewal processes, appointments, and continuing education requirements that the states will work to achieve.

During its session in New Orleans, the NAIC's Uniform Producer Licensing Initiatives Subgroup spent a considerable amount of time discussing its own future since federal intervention has been avoided. The subgroup is a unit of the NARAB Working Group.

The subgroup is mulling over the idea of re-merging with the Working Group, and even of adopting the name, "Producer Licensing Working Group." In the end, the subgroup said it will "report out" this issue to the Working Group.

The subgroup also heard a report from its own membership on the development of a uniform license reinstatement form. Sam A. Meyer, assistant director and supervisor of producer licensing with the South Dakota Division of Insurance, reported on the minimum information needed to process renewal applications from agents. The information was culled from forms used in a number of states.

A number of subgroup members indicated that they require full applications even for reinstatements. Mr. Meyer questioned the need for so much paperwork and extra processing time. Instead, he advocated consistently for a streamlined reinstatement form.

Mr. Meyer agreed to head the effort to find a consensus on whether to require a short or a long reinstatement application. Another member of the subgroup will look into reinstatement forms for insurance companies.

Mr. Crerar said his group looked forward "to sustained momentum over the next several years to break down the remaining licensing barriers facing our nation's multistate insurance producers."

"Commercial insurance producers in the United States fulfill a critical role in our domestic economy and in the global marketplace," he said. "Eliminating burdensome and ineffective state licensing issues will allow producers to fulfill their basic purpose--to find risk coverages for their clients--rather than negotiate demands of a fragmented and parochial state regulatory system."