OKLAHOMA CITY –Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City presided over his first meeting as Chairman of the Financial Services and Multi-Lines Issues Committee this weekend at the Spring meeting of the National Council of Insurance Legislators in San Diego, CA. 

“I’m honored to earn this position and further my service to this great organization,” Bennett said of his appointment. “These committees, which are bipartisan and include legislators from across the country, are doing vital work to craft good policies in an area of legislation - insurance - that is especially complex,” he added.

Bennett was tapped to lead the Financial Services and Multi-Lines Issues Committee, which sees a variety of topics that touch the insurance industry.

“I can understand a person who might find themselves dozing off before I even finish saying the name of the committee, but we really did have some engaging conversations,” Bennett said of his inaugural meeting as Chairman.

The committee heard a presentation on the insurance aspect of the emergent Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) industry. The committee also discussed potential model legislation for data privacy.

“There is perhaps no industry where sensitive personal data is more relevant than it is in insurance,” Bennett said of the issue. “Whether that’s personal data given to insurance carriers for home and auto policies, or the sensitive corporate data that is used to determine commercial insurance rates, there’s plenty of exposure and not enough being done to protect consumers,” he added. 

The National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) was founded in 1969 to educate state legislators on insurance issues and provide a venue for state lawmakers and regulators to explore policy solutions to take back to their individual states. The organization meets three times a year in the spring, summer, and winter. 

Of the work that NCOIL does, Bennett said, “insurance isn’t really a partisan issue – or it shouldn’t be – and this organization embodies that notion by focusing on facts and seeking solutions.”

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