Bill
HB 369
HB 369 updates NM insurance licensing: adds MEWA/PEO fees, requires contact info updates, extends license continuation to 1 year, and aligns penalties for lapsed licenses.
Status and procedural posture
- Bill number: HB 369
- Title/subject: Insurance licensing times & fees; insurance licensure requirements
- Introduced: November 12, 2024
- Current status (per user): action postponed indefinitely
- If enacted without an express effective date, the bill would take effect 90 days after adjournment (analysts identified June 20, 2025, as the likely effective date).
Purpose / intent
- To amend New Mexico’s Insurance Code to (a) adjust licensing and filing timeframes, (b) add or change fees for certain license types, (c) require contact‑information filing and timely updates by licensees, and (d) clarify termination and continuation rules for licenses and appointments. The changes aim to improve the Office of Superintendent of Insurance’s (OSI) ability to communicate with licensees and to collect fees for certain entities now being regulated.
Key provisions and changes
- Contact information requirement
- Insurance producers and licensees (including adjusters) must file residential, business, and email addresses with OSI and must update any changes within 30 days. The HJC amendment clarified this applies to all producers (not only resident producers).
- Certificates of authority and company filings
- Companies must file amendments to certificates of authority and related corporate documents within 30 days of the triggering change (e.g., name changes, mergers).
- License continuation/termination
- Extends the window in which a licensee may request continuation of an expired license from 30 days to 1 year.
- Clarifies terminations: company appointments and licensing terminations will occur on the same date the company’s authority to transact terminates (amendment restores original termination alignment).
- New and amended fees
- Adds licensing and renewal fees for Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (MEWAs), Employee Leasing Contractors, and Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs):
- $1,000 initial registration fee
- $200 annual renewal fee
- Other fee adjustments are reflected in the bill’s fee schedule amendments (see OSI for full schedule).
- Penalties for lapsed licenses
- Aligns penalties for lapsed producer licenses so the penalty equals 150% of the unpaid renewable fee in addition to the renewal fee (HJC amendment produced this alignment).
- Enforcement/administration
- OSI would collect the specified fees and maintain compliance; the bill does not change civil enforcement tools but adds procedural reporting and filing duties.
Who is affected
- Primary: insurance producers (agents), adjusters, insurance companies, agency business entities, surplus lines brokers, MEWAs, employee leasing contractors, PEOs, and related licensees regulated by OSI.
- Secondary: OSI (administration and fee collection) and the Insurance Operations Fund (special revenue fund that collects OSI fees).
Fiscal impact
- LFC/OSI analysis: an indeterminate but likely minimal recurring positive revenue gain to the Insurance Operations Fund from added and adjusted fees; some of those funds may later revert to the General Fund (per existing reversion rules). No large fiscal impact on state/local governments was identified. OSI has previously received applications in these categories (e.g., nine related applications noted), so fee revenue is expected but small.
Timing and next steps
- Because the user-provided status is “action postponed indefinitely,” the bill is not advancing at present. If revived and enacted, many provisions include short filing/notification windows (30 days) and the license‑continuation window change (1 year) would apply when the law takes effect. Absent a specific effective date in the bill, the default (90 days after adjournment) would govern.
Source notes
- Summary is based on the bill text, committee analyses and fiscal note prepared for OSI and the Legislative Finance Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee amendment summary describing technical changes (contact‑info requirements, termination language, and penalty alignment). For full statutory language and the complete fee schedule, consult the enrolled bill and OSI guidance.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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