Overview
Each year, NAMIC honors state and federal lawmakers who have been leaders on the issues of great importance to the insurance industry as Legislators of the Year. The award bears the likeness of Ben Franklin, one of the nation’s founding fathers who in 1752 established a mutual insurance company that continues to serve policyholders. To this day that company remains a NAMIC member along with the other more than 1,500 regional and local mutual insurance companies on main streets across America and many of the country’s largest national insurers. NAMIC members write $391 billion in annual premiums, accounting for 68 percent of homeowners, 56 percent of the automobile, and 31 percent of the business insurance markets.
Current Award Recipients
2024 State Legislator of the Year
NAMIC named New York state Sen. Neil Breslin and Kentucky state Rep. Sarge Pollock the association’s State Legislators of the Year.
Breslin was tapped as one of the top state legislators for 2024 for his 27 years of leadership in sponsoring and supporting legislation to improve insurance public policy in New York, as well as promoting such public policy with the National Council of Insurance Legislators, where he holds membership. As in previous years, Breslin was the only member of his party to oppose a sweeping expansion of wrongful death litigation promoted by the plaintiff’s bar – a bill that has twice been vetoed by the governor. He has also opposed several underwriting prohibition bills, a bad faith measure, and a bill to remove the lead paint exclusion from insurance policies, recognizing the negative effects these measures would have on the New York insurance marketplace and its ability to serve consumers.
Pollock was also recognized as a top state legislator for sponsoring five property/casualty insurance bills during the 2024 session in Kentucky, four of which were successfully signed into law. These were the NCOIL Delivery Network Company model, Strengthen Kentucky Homes Act, a workers’ compensation bill, and the NAIC model on group capital calculation.
2024 Federal Legislator of the Year
NAMIC named Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., as the association’s Federal Legislators of the Year.
Britt and Fitzgerald introduced the Insurance Data Protection Act, H.R. 5535/S. 3349, in their respective chambers to set clear limits on FIO’s authority and ensure the office collaborates with state insurance regulators when necessary and defers to their authority.
In 2023, Britt was sworn in as Alabama’s first elected female senator and the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. She serves on the Senate Banking Committee, Appropriations Committee, and the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Fitzgerald was elected to Congress in 2020 representing Wisconsin’s 5th District, which includes most of Milwaukee’s northern and western suburbs. Prior to coming to Congress, he served in the Wisconsin state Senate from 1995-2021. Fitzgerald is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and its Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance as well as the Judiciary Committee.
Award Details
Points of Contact
