Revised Short Article on Elimination of ALL Resident Agent Countersignature Laws

Resident agent countersignature laws have been repealed by state legislatures or held as unconstitutional by courts in every state in and jurisdiction of the United States (with the exception of Guam, where it has not been challenged). As many of you know, to your sorrow, officials in some states and local jurisdictions are unaware of the elimination of such requirements and continue to mandate resident agent signature and countersignature requirements for bid, performance, and payment bonds for construction projects in their jurisdictions.

And while NASBP is pleased to send and does send comment letters to those officials, we wanted to empower our members with a short white paper explaining the elimination of the resident agent countersignature requirement for members to use in situations when they need to educate state or local officials. Therefore, in October 2018, NASBP drafted and released a mini-white paper for its members, which could be used as a hand-out during presentations to and meetings with government officials.

Since 2018, there has been some confusion about the ambit of the term “resident agent” in this white paper. A revised paper clarifies that the term “resident agent” in this context refers to resident insurance agents—and NOT to resident agents for purposes of service of process.

NASBP is pleased that the Surety & Fidelity Association of America agreed to sign on to the revised (December 2019) version of the white paper.

Download the revised paper.