June 12, 2018—The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services passed a series of six bills designed to reduce federal regulations.
One of the bills, HR 3861, Federal Insurance Office Reform Act of 2017, introduced last year was part of the package approved by a vote of 36-21. The legislation dilutes the authority of the Federal Insurance Office (FIO), which is part of the U.S. Department of Treasury.
U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., introduced HR 3861 in 2017. The Automotive Service Association (ASA) supported the creation of the FIO in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. ASA opposes HR 3861. Many assumed that HR 3861 was dead for this session because the recently signed Dodd-Frank Act reform package did not contain House language that would have eliminated FIO.
ASA was successful in protecting FIO during the latest Dodd-Frank Act reform efforts. The committee’s current action is a similar attempt to curtail FIO’s impact on federal insurance regulation.
“We will need collision repairers to stand with us one more time this congressional session to protect a regulatory tool that is structured to help consumers and collision repairers,” said Scott Benavidez, AAM, ASA Collision Operations Committee director from Albuquerque, N.M. “Congress was clear in recent weeks that FIO did not need reform, yet we are faced with an additional attempt to dismantle this useful federal agency.”
In March, FenderBender reported on the Dodd-Frank Reform's impact on shops.
