Burns Receives 2000 IIAA Legislator of the

May 7, 2001

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) was honored as the Independent Insurance Agents of America’s (IIAA) 2000 Gerald Solomon Legislator of the Year during the Association’s 25th annual National Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Burns is the seventh IIAA Legislator of the Year award honoree.

The IIAA Legislator of the Year honor is named as a tribute to former House Rules Committee Chairman Solomon, who championed independent agent legislative concerns during his 20 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Burns was honored for his efforts to overturn a ban on the use of the installment sales method by accrual-basis taxpayers. The ban was part of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (Public Law 106-170) that was enacted in December 1999.

Burns led the Senate drive to overturn the ban and restore the ability of independent agents and other small business owners to use the installment sales method to sell their businesses. He introduced a bill designed to repeal the ban and garnered an impressive list of cosponsors, including Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles (R-Okla.), plus Sens. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), Rod Grams (R-Minn.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.).

Burns then went to work building support in the Senate. When the measure was voted on as an amendment to an omnibus tax bill, it garnered unanimous support, a tribute to the level attention Burns committed to enlisting the support of his colleagues. Burns’ efforts bore fruit in the last days of the 106th Congress when lawmakers approved a correction measure that retroactively repealed the ban, reinstating the installment sales method for business sales consummated following the ban’s initial enactment in December 1999.

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