SESSION OF 2020
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2478
As Recommended by House Committee on
Insurance

Brief*
HB 2478 would amend the Third Party Administrators
Act (Act) within the Insurance Code to update definitions and
certain requirements relating to insurance products and an
exemption from the Act. The bill also would remove the
definition of “uniform application” and references to this term.
Among the updates to terminology and usage of those
terms in the Act, the bill would amend the definitions of
“administrator” and “insurer” to modify references to
insurance products subject to the Act from “life, annuity or
health insurance coverage” to “life, annuity, or accident and
sickness insurance coverage.” Similarly, a reference to a self-
insured health or life benefit plan in the definition of “stop-loss
insurance” would be modified to reference an “accident and
sickness benefit plan.” A provision would be added to the
definition of “home state” to include a person who declares
Kansas as the person’s home state whether they are a
resident of Kansas or another state.
The bill would also update a reference to organizational
documents submitted by applicants under the Act to change
“certificate of existence” to “certificate of good standing.”
Finally, the bill would amend an exemption from the
provisions of the Act for pharmacy benefits managers holding
certificates of registration to instead specify “certificates of
licensure” and to update statutory provisions associated with
such certificates.
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*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
Background
The bill was introduced by the House Committee on
Insurance at the request of the Kansas Insurance Department
(Department). In the House Committee hearing, a
representative of the Department appeared in support of the
bill, noting the Legislature previously passed the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Third Party
Administrators (TPAs) Model Law to streamline regulatory
compliance across multiple states. This bill would make
technical changes to account for differences between the
model law and how Kansas statutes are written. No other
testimony was provided.
[Note: Enacted 2019 HB 2209 (a Conference Committee
report; introduced as SB 228), amended the license and
renewal application fees and establishing an annual report
fee in the TPA Act.]
The House Committee recommended the bill be placed
on the Consent Calendar.
According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
Budget on the bill, the Department states enactment of the bill
would not have a fiscal effect.


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Statutes affected:
As introduced: 40-3801, 40-3810, 40-3812, 40-3813, 40-3815, 40-3821