Chairperson Dietrich opened the hearing on SB 22. Revisor Eileen Ma briefed the Committee on the bill. (Attachment 1)

Kyle Strathman of the Kansas Department of Insurance spoke in favor of the bill. (Attachment 2) He explained that this bill does three things:

• It changes the requirements for title insurance agent's annual audits which currently requires them to submit a copy to the Commissioner. The requirement would instead require that the agent's have them available for inspection.
• It changes the surety bond requirement of tiered amounts based on county population and condenses them to a single tier of $100,000 surety bond regardless of population size.
• It eliminates the controlled business exemption for counties with a population of 10,000 or less since this type of exemption is nearly impossible for the Department to effectively enforce.

Mr. Strathman answered questions from the Committee.

Written proponent testimony with a friendly amendment to the bill was received from Ashley Garr on behalf of the Kansas Land Title Association. (Attachment 3)

Chairperson Dietrich closed the hearing on SB 22.