Stan Strickland Retiring from TDI, Moving to Mitchell Williams
Stan Strickland, Deputy Commissioner of TDI's legal division, is leaving in February 2017 to join the Austin office of Mitchell Williams. Right now, it looks like he'll be replaced by either Debra Knight (Director of Policy Development Counsel) or Michael Nored (Director of Financial Counsel). We will keep you posted on who is eventually named as Stan's replacement.

TDI Plans in Light of NAIC Life Policy Locator Launch
Melissa Hield indicated that TDI will likely wait until the NAIC roll out is complete before TDI takes down its request form and directs consumers to the NAIC site. She added her thanks to TALHI and its members for helping to put together such an effective program in Texas.

Senior Protection Bill Draft
TALHI has been made aware that a coalition of SIFMA and commercial bankers are working on a bill addressing senior protection issues in financial transactions. Senate and House committees held interim hearings on the issue, though the subject-matter did not specifically extend to insurance and insurers were specifically told their testimony would not be needed. The current bill draft could have implications for insurers, though, and we are looking further into the issue. TALHI counsel is reviewing the bill draft and ACLI staff also have the language for review.

LTC Possibly Mentioned in TDI Biennial Report
Melissa Hamilton confirmed that long-term care insurance is mentioned in the Biennial Report to the 85th Legislature. Melissa could not share specifics but indicated it wasn't "earth-shattering." TDI will be holding meetings in the next two weeks (likely after the NAIC meeting) about the content of the report.

Meeting with AARP Next Week on Retirement Marketplace
Jennifer is meeting with Tim Morstad of AARP next week to check in on AARP's plans to have a retirement product marketplace bill introduced in Texas similar to the one in Washington state.

Privacy Notice Rule Proposed
As we've reported previously, the Texas Department of Insurance is proposing amendments to 28 TAC §22.9, concerning annual privacy notices. These amendments are necessary to reduce privacy notice confusion by eliminating the requirement for covered entities to send out redundant privacy notices and aligning the rule with recent changes to federal requirements regarding disclosures of privacy policies found in 15 U.S.C. §6803 (part of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act [GLBA[), consistent with Insurance Code Chapter 601.

TALHI at ACLI State Issues Summit
Jennifer Cawley attended the Thursday sessions of ACLI's State Issues Summit, getting up to date on issues such as unclaimed property, concerns regarding the elimination of premium tax offsets for guaranty association assessments, other state tax issues, and updates on federal tax considerations among other issues.

Next Week: Hegar, NAIC Receptions & Member Call
Join us Tuesday, December 6, for coffee with Comptroller Glenn Hegar, 8:30-9:30 am at 816 Congress Avenue, Suite 940, Austin, Texas 78701. RSVP to Jennifer if you plan to attend.

The next member call will take place Wednesday, December 7 at 10 am Central. To call in, dial 1-888-537-7715 and enter code 155-255-355# when prompted. The agenda will be posted Tuesday.

And if you're going to be at NAIC, be sure to join us for our TALHI Texas Reception with our state regulators on Friday, December 9, 5-6:30 pm on the Glimmer Terrace of the Fontainebleau Miami. RSVPs are appreciated. Feel free to pass this invitation along to others in your organization who will be in attendance.