Surety Bond News

Trucking various goods between the U.S. and Mexico will become much cheaper and easier in the very near future. A cross-border trucking agreement between the U.S. and Mexican governments has been negotiated allowing truckers to venture deeper in to both countries making the requirement of a freight broker surety bond inevitable.
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Legislation has been re-adopted relating to mixed martial arts promoters in Indiana State. The Indiana Gaming Commission has implemented rules under the name SB 160 (2009), which allowed the Commission to regulate the mixed martial arts matches. SB 160 requires match promoters to acquire a surety bond of at least $10,000. The law that’s already in place allows the Commission to require bonds for boxing and sparring match promoters. The rules also permit the Commission to ask the promoter to supply a supplementary surety bond for separate events which must be in a quantity equivalent to an estimate of the total ticket tax for the event. The surety’s aggregate yearly liability can’t surpass the amount of the surety bond.

Proprietary schools will be affected by changes to current law in the state of Idaho. The Idaho Board of Education implemented temporary rules to revise the present regulations for proprietary schools. The changes apply SB 1012 (2009), which removed the surety bond requirement for individual proprietary school agents and in its place required the school to acquire a blanket bond to cover all of the agents. The school’s bond financially protects students in the event of a school’s closure and from fraud during the enrollment process. The previous law based the required bond size on the amount of students attending the school which ranged from $10,000 to $100,000. The new law states that the bond must be equal to the total tuition and fees charged by the school during the last registration year. The new rules also add “extended coverage clauses” to the bond which will be in effect 120 days after a schools closure; “extended coverage” means that claims can still go out on the bond 120 days after the schools closure.

Georgia pharmacy benefit managers may be affected by new rules that were recently presented. The Georgia Office of the Insurance Commissioner suggested a new law enacted under SB 310 (2010) that requires pharmacy benefit managers to obtain a $100,000 surety bond from a state licensed surety company. Additionally, a minimum $250,000 errors and omissions insurance policy or “other appropriate liability insurance” is required. The surety bond protects individuals doing business with pharmacy benefit managers from fraudulent dealings. The surety has the option of canceling the bond with 30 days written notice.

The state of Florida has proposed a new rule for electrical contractors. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation suggested removing the alternative of a letter of credit as opposed to a surety bond which current law allows. The present law requires contractors to acquire a performance or payment bond of at least $10,000 for specialty certifications and at least $25,000 for an unlimited electrical or alarm certification. The suggested rule would also terminate the need for a surety company to supply a letter declaring that it would write the required surety bond for the contractor.