PHILADELPHIA—The Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.'s political action committee is designed to make RIMS more visible in political matters, according to RIMS President Deborah M. Luthi.

Speaking at a press conference during the RIMS annual conference in Philadelphia last week, Ms. Luthi, who is also enterprise risk manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, said that as risk managers move into enterprise risk management and strategic risk management, they find that politics, regulation and compliance issues become more important for them. RISK PAC, RIMS' bipartisan PAC that was launched at last year's RIMS conference, hopes to raise $28,000 this year, she said.

The PAC is intended to expand RIMS' political visibility, Ms. Luthi said. The organization wants to “ensure that RIMS has a spot at the table,” she said.

Mr. Luthi also noted that RIMS will hold its 14th annual RIMS on the Hill legislative conference in Washington in early June, and Federal Insurance Office Director Michael McRaith has been invited to speak.

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Dan Kugler, the society's board liaison to the RIMS external affairs committee, listed four major federal legislative initiatives with which RIMS is involved this year. According to Mr. Kugler, who is also assistant treasurer of corporate risk management at Snap-on Inc. in Kenosha, Wis., these are:

• Reauthorizing and reforming the National Flood Insurance Program, which is slated to lapse on May 31;

• Streamlining the reporting process for secondary payers to repay the Medicare trust fund;

• Amending federal risk retention law to allow risk retention groups to offer property as well as liability insurance to members; and

• Blocking efforts to subject certain reinsurance transactions to new taxes.

RIMS Executive Director Mary Roth said the conference was drawing “very strong” attendance numbers. As of last Monday night, the gathering had drawn 5,100 attendees by Monday night, according to Ms. Roth. In addition, she said that 3,900 exhibitor personnel had registered, bringing the total to 9,000.