Advocacy in action blog

More than 181,000 Americans living with disabilities have benefited from the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) program, which NAIFA has advocated for since it was first enacted in 2014. The program gives people with disabilities and their families access to tax-free savings accounts without affecting their eligibility for federal programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income. Now that key provisions of the ABLE program are set to expire next year, NAIFA strongly supports the efforts of Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) to extend them.

So-called 529 plans are effective financial planning tools that help many families prepare for education-related costs. They allow tax-free withdrawals to pay “qualified education expenses.” Proposed legislation known as the “Education and Workforce Freedom Act,” which NAIFA supports, would significantly expand approved uses for 529 plan withdrawals and has been passed by the House Ways & Means Committee.

NAIFA supports the bipartisan Empowering States to Protect Seniors Against Bad Actors Act, which would establish a grant program at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to help states fund initiatives to protect consumers against financial scams. The grants would help states staff anti-scam enforcement offices, invest in technology, develop educational resources, and devise strategies specifically designed to protect seniors from financial exploitation and fraud.

NAIFA wholeheartedly supports a best interest standard for retirement investment professionals, but believes the Department of Labor's proposal to impose a fiduciary-only regulation goes too far, NAIFA Secretary Chris Gandy wrote in letter submitted to be part of the official record of a recent House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, & Pensions hearing entitled "Protecting American Savers and Retirees from DOL’s Regulatory Overreach.”

Senators Ted Cruz and Bill Hagerty have introduced legislation, the Protecting Innovation in Investments Act, that would prevent the SEC from moving forward with a proposed rule that would deter technological innovation by financial services companies. The SEC's proposal would also stifle financial professionals' use of technology to benefit clients. 

The Senators, in a release entitled "What They're Saying," quoted NAIFA President Tom Cothron, LUTCF, FSCP, on the importance of technology in the financial services industry and NAIFA's opposition to the SEC proposal.

NAIFA strongly supports newly introduced legislation, the Protecting Innovation in Investment Act sponsored by U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), that would foster the use of technology and innovation in the financial services industry to benefit consumers. 

NAIFA supports a bill in Maryland that would eliminate a pre-licensing education requirement for people applying to take the state's insurance license exams. The mandated courses are unnecessary and burdensome and they do a disservice to those pursuing an insurance career in Maryland as well as consumers. 

State-based regulation of insurance has been a bedrock of the industry and effectively protects the interests of consumers. Federal law, including Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, recognizes this fact and explicitly exempts the business of insurance from regulation by federal Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (BCFP).

NAIFA and a coalition of groups representing a majority of the U.S. companies and agents offering property-casualty, title, and life insurance have asked Congress for additional legislation that would clarify provisions in Dodd-Frank and solidify the state-based system of insurance regulation.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed a bill NAIFA-MI helped shape and strongly advocated for that will help protect vulnerable adults, specifically seniors, from financial fraud and exploitation. The new law allows broker-dealers or investment advisors to delay disbursements or transactions if they suspect a client is being exploited or defrauded.

NAIFA recently signed onto a letter supporting Congressman Lloyd Smucker's (R-PA, 11th District) newly introduced bill that would make the Section 199A deduction permanent. The bill had over 80 co-sponsors from both aisles and received unanimous support from the 25 Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee. The bill is similar to S.1706 introduced by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) making the support for minimizing tax hikes bipartisan and bicameral.