LAS VEGAS -- Travel trade groups, at least one legislator and the
consumer affairs commissioner have taken their first steps toward
fixing a 2-year-old Nevada law that requires all non-ARC outlets in
the state to obtain a $50,000 bond.
Nevada agents say they could live with a law that required
agencies, ARC and non-ARC, to satisfy some kind of financial
standards, as long as it eliminated the onerous $50,000 bond rule
for non-ARC travel sellers.
Meanwhile, consumer affairs commissioner Patricia Jarman-Manning
previewed a proposal that could be more burdensome than the law.
Unless modified, it could require all individual agents, including
employees, to obtain bonds.
No bill has yet surfaced, but proposals could be introduced at
any time.
Sharna Blumenfeld, immediate past president of ASTA's Southern
Nevada chapter, is one of two ASTA representatives on an ad hoc
group that began meeting about a year-and-a-half ago, not long
after the trade was blindsided by the introduction and passage of
the seller of travel law.
The group, which includes representatives of AAA and the
National Tour Association, this month offered its proposals to
Assemblyman John Carpenter (R-33), who already had said he will
introduce amendments to the travel seller law.
Blumenfeld said the group made the following points:
• Travel agencies should be required to hold a surety or provide
some alternative measure of financial security. Individual agents,
when bound to a registered agency as employees or contractors,
should be covered by that surety.
• Agencies should be permitted to satisfy the bonding
requirement with errors and omissions insurance in an amount
consistent with each agency's size.
Professional designations, such as ICTA or CLIA certification,
could be acceptable substitutes, as well.
• Annual registration fees for individual agents, if any, should
be kept at $25.
The group also urged the legislator to consider trust funds or
escrow accounts as a way to protect client funds.
Finally, Blumenfeld said, the group urged Assemblyman Carpenter
to research laws in other states -- the point being that "no other
state requires individual sureties."
That last point reflects a concern that the consumer affairs
commissioner may be drafting a proposal to require all individual
sellers to obtain a bond.
Her proposal calls for a smaller bond ($10,000 to $25,000), the
amount to be determined by each seller's sales volume and number of
years doing business in Nevada.
Individual agents and outside sales personnel still would have
to register, but the annual fee would rise from $25 to $100.