This week a group from the Captive Association Leadership Council (CALC) coordinated a visit to Washington DC to provide an educational baseline on the captive insurance industry to key policymakers and staff.  The idea is that providing a baseline on captives with the participation of numerous state captive associations will build a foundation for future discussions when presented with potentially adverse actions in Washington or opportunities to advance the industry as a whole.

CALC is an informal coalition representing most captive association leaders in the industry. This first visit as a coordinated group included me, Dan Towle from CICA, Joe Deems from NRRA, Joe Holahan representing the Captive Insurance Council of the District of Columbia, and Julie Bordo, President of PHC Mutual Insurance Company RRG (a captive owner and VCIA Member).

We met with staff members of key committees in the House and Senate (House Financial Services and Senate Banking) in the morning before heading over to Treasury to meet with key members of the Federal Insurance Office and Tax Policy. We explained the role of captives and the importance not only to the organizations that utilize them, but to the economy overall. We discussed some of the issues regarding the bad actors misusing captives, as well as tried to dispel myths regarding the industry. We heard directly from Treasury on issues they had concerning captives, which provided us with helpful insight.

This CALC trip to Washington DC is the first of what we hope will be many, to strengthen connections with key committee staff as well as home-state Senators and Members of Congress. Our inaugural trip was a success – connections were established with key staff who we will reconnect with if and when legislative issues arise regarding captives or RRGs.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!

Rich Smith
VCIA President