A Look at the Latest Legislation Impacting Independent Agents

By John Savant, IA&B Government Affairs Director

Each year, thousands of bills are introduced across Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, many of which carry direct or indirect consequences for the insurance industry. IA&B plays an active role in tracking and influencing legislation that impacts independent agents, advocating for practical, pro-consumer policies, and defending against proposals that could disrupt the marketplace.

In the first half of 2025 alone, IA&B tracked more than 160 bills in Pennsylvania, 45 in Maryland, and 14 in Delaware, out of a combined 5,800+ bills introduced across the three states this year. Below is a look at some of IA&B’s key advocacy efforts shaping the landscape for independent agents in each state.

Pennsylvania: Leading the Push to Raise Minimum Limits

For years, IA&B’s top priority in Harrisburg has been increasing Pennsylvania’s outdated automobile insurance minimums. Pennsylvania’s $5,000 property damage minimum stands alone as the lowest in the entire country and has not been updated since the 1970s, when the average cost of a new vehicle was $4,441.

A major milestone came in June with the introduction of House Bill 1666, sponsored by IA&B member and Rep. Jeff Olsommer (R-139), which would raise the state’s property damage (PD) minimum from $5,000 to $25,000. The bill has garnered bipartisan support out of the gate, with Rep. Tara Probst (D-189) signed on as co-prime sponsor – a key step in Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled House.

The bill marks a strategic shift for our efforts to raise the minimum auto limits. In years past, IA&B has always attempted to raise the property damage and bodily injury minimums simultaneously. These efforts came the closest in 2022 when the Senate narrowly passed Senate Bill 676, which would have increased minimums from 15/30/5 to 30/60/15 and eliminated stacking. However, that broader reform has since stalled, in part due to concerns over the impact on premiums. By focusing solely on updating the property damage requirement, Olsommer’s bill aims to significantly improve claim outcomes for PD, while limiting the impact on insurance premiums.

IA&B has played a central role in HB 1666 from its conception and drafting, to spearheading a coalition with aligned organizations, including the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association. However, with fewer than 3% of introduced bills ever coming up for a vote in the Pennsylvania legislature, the most difficult hurdle still lies ahead: making HB 1666 enough of a priority among state lawmakers for it to move forward. Independent agents: be prepared to raise the issue directly with your legislators. Your voice could make the difference in turning this momentum into meaningful action.

Maryland: Defending the Private Auto Insurance Market

Maryland’s 90-day sprint of a legislative session was dominated by efforts to address Maryland’s $3 billion state budget deficit, coupled with the looming possibility of grant cuts, as well as layoffs of federal employees and contractors working in Maryland, which would further reduce state tax revenue. These issues resulted in the passage of a new 3% sales tax on IT and data services, despite IA&B opposition.

As in prior years, insurance rating practices drew attention from legislators. IA&B opposed House Bill 148, which would have barred insurers from using not-at-fault accidents in their automobile rating plans. Similarly, Senate Bill 551 sought to prohibit the use of wild animal strikes—such as collisions with deer—as a rating factor. Both proposals ultimately failed.

IA&B’s advocacy work has not ended now that session is over. This summer, many Maryland automobile insurance policyholders began finding a new surcharge on their premium notices labeled “recoupment of MAIF assessment.” Even if the line is not present, the assessment surely is. Behind that line item lies a chronic underwriting deficit at one of Maryland’s state agencies, which IA&B has warned about for years.

The Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) is Maryland’s residual automobile insurance market. While Pennsylvania, Delaware, and nearly all other states operate their residual market through an assigned risk plan, MAIF is a government agency that offers insurance directly to Maryland drivers. By law, MAIF cannot go insolvent, and when its surplus falls below a certain threshold, it triggers an industry-wide surcharge on all automobile insurance policies. Due to chronically inadequate rates, MAIF’s surplus dropped from $184 million to just $3.5 million over the last 18 years. MAIF’s combined loss ratio has averaged 119% over the previous 20 years, so for every $1.00 in premium collected, MAIF has paid $1.19 in claims and other expenses. This issue has been exacerbated in recent years as MAIF has continued to increase their policy count, using their severely inadequate rates to compete with the private market and pull customers away from the carriers that IA&B members represent.

IA&B has been at the forefront of this issue for years, successfully opposing past legislative attempts to hide future assessments from consumers and working to delay the latest assessment by unlocking $9.6 million left over from the last MAIF bailout in the 1990s. Those efforts culminated in the passage of HB 1098 during the 2025 legislative session, which enacted critical reforms to rein in MAIF. The new law requires MAIF to maintain a minimum surplus under the same standard risk-based capital (RBC) rules that private carriers must follow. If MAIF falls short of these thresholds, the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) will now have the authority to subject MAIF to stricter rate review under a “prior approval” process, essentially forcing MAIF to raise its premiums to actuarially sound levels.

Additionally, the MIA has ordered MAIF to phase out its “affordability index,” a rating mechanism that allowed MAIF to continue charging unsustainably low rates to lower income policyholders rather than actuarially sound rates. In addition to supporting the MIA’s decision, IA&B led the opposition to Senate Bill 697, which attempted to sidestep the reform by explicitly allowing MAIF to use policyholder income as a rating factor. While another MAIF assessment is expected to take place in 2026, the cumulative effect of these changes should dramatically reduce the chances of these assessments in the long run.

Delaware: Tackling Storm Chasers & Roofing Contractors

In Delaware, IA&B’s Government Relations Committee facilitated in-person engagement between agents and lawmakers throughout the session. This included a January event with leadership from the House and Senate Insurance Committees, as well as agent meetings at Legislative Hall in March. One legislative focus this year was Senate Bill 45, aimed at curbing “application fraud,” the deliberate use of false or misleading information to secure insurance coverage. IA&B worked closely with lawmakers to ensure the bill’s language protected independent agents from being penalized simply because a consumer provided inaccurate or incomplete information to the insurer. In addition, we worked with ACORD to add a question and bring the ACORD 90-DE more in line with proprietary forms that specifically inquire about the applicant’s participation in a transportation-network or vehicle-sharing company in order to limit the risk to our members’ E&O. The Department of Insurance (DOI) approved ACORD's filing of the revised ACORD 90-DE.

Another top concern for IA&B is the ongoing challenges in the homeowners’ insurance market, particularly surrounding roofing claims. Across all three states, agents frequently report difficulties securing standard homeowners’ policies for their clients, often resulting in consumers being pushed into the surplus lines market just to obtain basic coverage. In response to rising claims costs and heightened exposure, insurers are increasingly imposing higher deductibles, setting strict roof age limits during underwriting, and shifting from replacement cost to actual cash value (ACV) when calculating losses. As a coastal state, Delaware has been particularly susceptible to these issues.

Delaware lawmakers have taken a leading role in addressing post-storm abuse in the property insurance space. Last year, Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro spearheaded efforts to revise the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Public Adjuster Licensing Model Act, incorporating a number of reforms that Delaware had already implemented at the state level. These changes, strongly supported by IA&B, include prohibiting the assignment of homeowners’ insurance benefits to contractors, restricting public adjuster solicitation in the immediate aftermath of a storm, and cracking down on unlicensed individuals who act as de facto adjusters without proper authority or oversight. IA&B is also pushing for these changes to be emulated in other states.

While these measures have strengthened protections for consumers, they only address part of the problem, since many of the most aggressive and misleading practices originate not from public adjusters, but from roofing contractors themselves. To directly address this issue, IA&B is preparing to advocate for legislation that targets the root of the problem.

In coordination with the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), IA&B is working to advance another national standard: the NCOIL Storm Chaser Model Act, which would prohibit contractors from advising consumers on the terms of their insurance policy, negotiating claims, or offering to pay or waive deductibles as a way to secure business. We expect to have language ready to be introduced when the Legislature returns to session in January.

Reach IA&B Government Affairs Director John Savant at JohnS@IABforME.com or 717-918-9214.

How to Support IA&B’s Advocacy Efforts

Every day, IA&B staff and volunteers are in Harrisburg, Annapolis, and Dover, working to protect and strengthen the independent insurance industry and to advocate on issues like those outlined in this article. AgentPAC is a key part of that effort.

AgentPAC is IA&B’s state-level, bipartisan Political Action Committee. By pooling voluntary contributions from IA&B members, AgentPAC helps elect candidates who understand and support the independent agent and broker community.

Contributions are used to back policymakers— regardless of party—based on their voting records, positions on key issues, and knowledge of how the insurance industry works. For nonincumbents, this understanding is often assessed through candidate interviews.

Learn how to contribute by check or online: Visit IABforME.com/political_advocacy/#PAC.

Or contact IA&B Government Affairs Director John Savant at JohnS@IABforME.com or 717-918-9214.