NAMIC Welcomes Senate Bill to Remove FIO Subpoena Authority

New legislation to strip the non-regulatory Federal Insurance Office of its subpoena authority introduced in the Senate today will help protect the state-based system of insurance regulation, according to the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. Introduced by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., with 15 original cosponsors, S. 3349 would prevent the office from duplicating the work of state insurance regulators by removing its subpoena powers.

“Congress meant subpoena power as a last resort, not a go-to option for establishing new regulatory power for FIO,” said Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for NAMIC. “FIO’s insistence on moving forward with an unprecedented and duplicative data collection through its subpoena authority is concerning. State regulators have been collecting climate related data for more than a decade and continue to refine those efforts. FIO piling on at a time of rising costs due to inflation and climate change only adds to the challenge of ensuring insurance affordability and availability for consumers.”

Congress created FIO under the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the financial crisis to monitor insurance markets. Before subpoenaing insurers directly, the office is required by law to first make use of publicly available information wherever possible. It also requires coordinating with state regulators before issuing any data call. However, in October of 2022, the office announced a massive climate data collection using its subpoena authority. The move drew criticism from not only insurers, but also state insurance regulators through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for its duplicative nature and excessive reach.

The Senate introduction comes after a bipartisan group of nearly 40 senators sent a May letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and FIO Director Steven Seitz expressing their concerns with the proposed data collection. It also comes on the heels of the House version of the Insurance Data Protection Act, H.R. 5535. Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wisc., Mike Flood, R-Neb., and Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo introduced their bill in September, which is now up to 18 cosponsors in the House.

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NAMIC membership reflects many of the country’s largest national insurers as well as regional and local mutual insurance companies on main streets across America. NAMIC members write $391 billion in annual premiums and account for 68 percent of homeowners, 56 percent of the automobile, and 31 percent of the business insurance markets.