PIA National has led the insurance industry on the movement to repeal the Federal Insurance Office (FIO), and we’re pleased that Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) has reintroduced H.R. 1862, legislation to repeal the Federal Insurance Office (FIO). PIA National has worked closely with Rep. Mooney on developing this legislation. Building support for it will be a top priority for PIA National throughout this Congress.
In 2010, advocates of federal insurance regulation succeeded in creating the FIO as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). PIA National opposed the concept of the FIO from the outset.
There has never been a need to create an office like it, and many of the duties of the FIO are examples of federal overreach in the context of our system of state insurance regulation. Like most federal offices, once created, its power began to expand. Over the nearly ten years of its existence, the FIO has called for federal regulation of mortgage insurance; for its inclusion in supervisory colleges with state regulators; and for uniform national standards for state guaranty associations. In addition, it now seeks to administer the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB). Each of these acts is an overreach.
PIA National was the first national insurance association to call for the repeal of the FIO. There is no greater threat to the state regulation of insurance than this federal bureaucratic office that consistently seeks to increase its power, and PIA National is proud to be an industry leader on this issue of critical importance to independent agents.
While PIA National has actively developed and supported efforts to rein in the FIO (by supporting, for example, the Federal Insurance Office Reform Act in the 115th Congress), consumers and those concerned about maintaining our successful state insurance regulatory system would be better served by its full repeal.
PIA National will continue this effort by vigorously advocating for Rep. Mooney’s legislation at the upcoming PIA Federal Legislative Summit and throughout the 116th Congress.
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