A House subcommittee hearing on the federal government’s role in the insurance industry held this week focused primarily on two pieces of legislation sponsored by Reps. Sean Duffy (R-WI) and Denny Heck (D-WA).
One of the bills, H.R. 3861, would refocus the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) on international matters and require FIO to coordinate more closely with the states. The other, H.R. 3762, would place guardrails on federal negotiators in international insurance discussion to ensure they represent the interests of the U.S. marketplace and its regulators, the state insurance commissioners.
One of the expert witnesses was Rick Means, president and CEO of Shelter Insurance Companies and member of the board of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). He voiced his support for these bills, on behalf of PCI.
“Instead of focusing on developing strong Team USA positions, FIO has spent considerable resources second-guessing the states on their core activities and threatening state regulators with federal intrusion. FIO has imposed multiple data calls on insurers on subjects well within state authority, such as auto insurance and terrorism insurance,” Means told the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance. “We need FIO and the states working together, not in conflict. And we need FIO to focus on its international mission, with appropriate safeguards and close supervision by Congress.”
Nat Wienecke, PCI’s senior vice president of federal government relations, said these two bills assure that federal efforts will be focused not on duplicating effective domestic insurance regulation, but on improving the representation of U.S. interests in international insurance regulatory discussions.
“PCI applauds Chairman Duffy, Ranking Member Cleaver, and the members of the subcommittee for holding this hearing on two important bills,” Wienecke said. “These bills recognize and uphold the U.S. system of state-based regulation that has helped create the largest, most competitive, and financially strong insurance market in the world for the benefit of insurance consumers.”