Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Doug Jones (D-AL) recently introduced legislation seeking to designate a state insurance commissioner as a voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC).
The Primary Regulators of Insurance Vote Act (PRIVA Act) of 2019 reclassifies the non-voting state-based insurance regulator on the FSOC as a voting member of the Council.
“To this day, state insurance agencies have no voting seat on the influential Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC),” Scott said. “This bill would ensure that they have a vote for any and all decision making that would affect the insurance sector and its regulation.”
The FSOC is composed of 10 voting members: Treasury Secretary, Federal Reserve Chair, Comptroller of the Currency, CFPB Director, SEC Chair, FDIC Chair, CFTC Chair, FHFA Director, NCUA Chair, and an independent insurance expert.
“When federal regulators consider rules that impact the entire financial industry, it’s important that state insurance commissioners not only have a say but also a vote,” Jones, a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, said. “These commissioners have been the primary regulators of the insurance industry for over a century, and their voting presence will result in better informed federal policies. Our bipartisan legislation will make this common-sense adjustment to the FSOC.”