When it comes to producer licensing, numbers tell a nice story:

48: Number of states that have passed the NAIC's Producer Licensing Model Act (PLMA) or other licensing laws enhancing or improving comliance with the reciprocity licensing mandates of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).

41: Number of states that have been certified by the NAIC as meeting the requirements for producer licensing reciprocity under GLBA.

31: Number of states plus the District of Columbia that are processing non-resident applications electronically through the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) Website.

49: Number of states plus the District of Columbia that accept the Uniform Non-Resident Application.

Both nationally and at the state level, PIA has worked hard to make these successes happen and to disprove the critics who would say that the states can't change their systems to move with the times.

Nevertheless, significant work remains to be done to improve the producer licensing process and protect the interests of PIA members including:

• Many of the laws that have been passed in the states need to be aligned due to minor differences that make more than minor amounts of work for independent agents;
• Members must understand how existing/changing countersignature statutes might affect them; and
• As fingerprint-based background checks are put into place, they must be accompanied by standards that govern their use and don't place extra burdens/exposures on PIA members.