ARRC elects chairman

WASHINGTON—Larry Smith, vp-risk management services in Columbia, Md., for MedStar Health Inc., has been elected chairman of the American Risk Retention Coalition.

Mr. Smith said a key goal of ARRC, which was organized last year, is to convince federal legislators to allow risk retention groups to fund property and other risks for policyholder owners. RRGs, which were first authorized under a 1981 law, currently can fund commercial casualty risks other than workers compensation.

The need for such an expansion has been "heightened by the recent withdrawals by major insurers from property markets, including coastal areas, in several states. If that trend continues to include commercial policyholders, the result could be catastrophic," Mr. Smith said in a statement.

ARRC is a Washington-based coalition of RRGs, trade associations and other interested groups that advocate expansion of the Liability Risk Retention Act.

To date, though, no congressional leaders have backed such an expansion.