Two days after stalling a powerful lawmaker’s minimum commission bill for insurance agents, a key Senate panel had a change of heart Wednesday morning and approved the measure.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Senate leaders added two senators to the committee for the meeting to push it through.
House Bill 838, being pushed by House Rules Chairman John Meadows, a health insurance agent, stalled Monday in the Senate Insurance Committee when four members recused themselves from voting. The members said they had potential conflicts of interests because they work in the insurance industry.
None of the remaining members of the committee would vote to move the bill - which set a minimum 5 percent commission for agents selling certain health insurance policies - forward.
That meeting occured a day after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution raised questions about Meadows' involvement in the bill.
But Meadows heads the committee that decides which Senate bills will be considered by the House. He told his panel after Monday’s non-vote that he was inclined to not allow any Senate bills to get a vote.
That had its intended impact, as his bill cleared the Senate Insurance Committee Wednesday. It will now be eligible to be considered for final passage by the Senate next week, when the 2016 session is scheduled to end.
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