Legislation designed to ease the regulatory burdens on surplus lines insurers was approved by a House Financial Services Subcommittee last week, and industry officials say it is likely to be taken up on the House floor in September.

Although the measure was approved by a voice vote in the Capital Markets Subcommittee with no opposition, some members argued that more work needs to be done to alleviate the concerns of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and others.

Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., who chairs the subcommittee, said the bill "focuses on two specific sectors of the market that are, in my opinion, in need of reform." He said the bill worked to help streamline the surplus lines market and to protect reinsurance arbitration agreements from some state regulators whom he said have been trying to apply their state's laws extraterritorially.