Articles of Interest
CLTA hopeful new law will stymie proposed Calif. regulations
September 16, 2008
Even as the California title insurance industry awaits the fate of SB133, which sits in limbo while state legislators and the governor fight a gritty battle over the state budget, it remains hopeful that the new legislation will put the brakes on the department of insurance’s proposed regulations.
“SB 133 will provide the department of insurance with significant new power to regulate marketing practices in the title insurance industry,” said Craig C. Page, California Land Title Association (CLTA) executive vice president and counsel. “In our opinion, this aggressive new approach to targeting prohibited activity eliminates the need for the department’s proposed regulations.”
SB133 will establish procedures for obtaining and renewing a certificate of registration as a title marketing representative; prohibits a person from marketing, offering, soliciting, negotiating, or selling title insurance California without a valid certificate of registration as a title marketing representative; and places limits on the value of items that title marketing representatives are allowed to provide to those in a position to refer business to the title insurers they represent.
Page said CLTA and the title insurance industry remain optimistic that SB 133 will be signed into law by Schwarzenegger.
“This important consumer protection bill passed through the Legislature with overwhelming, bi-partisan votes,” he said. “Furthermore, the Department of Insurance has written to the Governor’s Office that they are in strong support of SB 133.”
According to Page, SB 133 will enhance consumer protection while maintaining a healthy, competitive title insurance marketplace in California.
“The bill makes clear that CLTA and the title insurance industry in California are serious about targeting prohibited marketing activities,” Page said. “The title insurance industry sponsored SB 133 to create a ground-breaking new registration and certification program for individual title company employees. To my knowledge, this will be the first such regulatory system for individual title company employees anywhere in the country.”
While Page would not address whether more regulation is needed in the title industry in California, or whether there was anything in the currently proposed regulations that CLTA supports, he did emphasize that SB 133 is an example of the title insurance industry’s “ongoing commitment to protecting consumers and maintaining a healthy, competitive title insurance marketplace in California” and said he is looking forward to working with department representatives to quickly implement the important provisions contained in the bill.
“We hope the department agrees with this view and either withdraws their current regulatory language or modifies the language to be consistent with SB 133,” he concluded.
