Gem State Wire

Senators’ bipartisan letter urges the FIO to abandon ESG policies that would increase premiums for policyholders

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Thune (R-S.D.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen raising concerns with the Federal Insurance Office’s (FIO’s) efforts to force the Biden administration’s unrealistic environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda onto the state-regulated insurance industry. This could result in state insurance regulators and insurers being coerced into adopting costly, one-size-fits-all climate-mitigation strategies.

“Across the nation, insurers work day in and day out to provide reliable coverage to the public to ensure they are protected when adverse weather events strike or accidents occur,”  the senators wrote. “And, to be clear, it is in insurers’ best interest to take into account these various risks – whether it be weather risks or otherwise – that could affect their customers and integrity of their policies. Therefore, it is concerning that the Biden administration is ignoring steps insurers and state insurance regulators are already taking and instead utilizing the FIO to continue pushing ESG policies as part of its unrealistic environmental agenda.”

“Insurance has been, and continues to be, regulated at the state level, including as it relates to what data is collected and reported by insurance companies,”  said Nat Wienecke, senior vice president of federal government relations and political engagement at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA). “APCIA understands the potential national importance of the issue of climate and the possible impact on the financial services sector and agrees that FIO should be coordinating with the state insurance regulators when it comes to data collection from insurers, as Dodd-Frank requires.”

“FIO’s effort is a step back in understanding climate change rather than any sort of progress,”  Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. “State regulators have been working with insurers for years gathering data on how climate has affected companies, their policyholders, and the communities they live and work in. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, FIO should seek to collaborate with existing research and build on the substantial progress already being made in understanding the impact of climate change.”

The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).

Full letter HERE.

Original source can be found here.