In 2010, the Federal Insurance Office (“FIO”) was created within the United States Treasury Department by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, to support uniform regulation of Insurance across the various states. Against allegations of inefficiency, duplication and outright overreaching, major insurance groups have sought to eliminate the FIO. Regulators and industry groups have alleged that the FIO has undermined state regulation of the business of insurance, long since mandated, by the McCarran Ferguson Act of 1945, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1011-1015, exempting the business of insurance from most federal regulation.
In December 2024, the top insurance regulators from 9 states, including New Hampshire, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Louisiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia, have looked to the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) to eliminate the FIO. In a letter to the DOGE, the Insurance Commissioners from these states declared that “Since its inception, FIO has fluctuated between ineffectiveness and outright dishonesty in its dealings with the states”. The letter to the DOGE co-leaders uses FIO’s efforts to collect data from insurers in collaboration with the NAIC as an example of its alleged ineffectiveness, and questions FIO’s motivation for the data call. The commissioners said it remains unclear whether the FIO wanted the data for the purposes of “consumer protection or to pressure the insurance industry into adopting ESG (environmental social and governance) policies.” Id.
On January 23, 2025, Montana Congressman Troy Downing, R. Mont. introduced legislation, the Federal Insurance Office Elimination Act (the “Act”). If passed, the Act would return sole regulatory authority over the insurance industry to the states by abolishing the FIO. See H.R. 643.
The bill has received support from the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA), the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”)
In its 2025 Agenda, released in late March 2025, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) included the call to eliminate the FIO.
The so-called “Big I”, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (“NAMIC”) also support efforts to eliminate the FIO. On April 11, 2025, both trade groups submitted a letter to Congressman Downing, voicing concerns which were not newly held. “Since [the FIO’s] inception in 2010, our associations have echoed concerns from functional regulators over FIO’s potential for duplicative and overreaching workstreams.” NAMIC and Big I wrote. “Unfortunately, these concerns have been validated over the course of the office’s existence, as it has undermined state-based regulation and exerted inappropriate pressure on industry participants, including unwarranted threats of subpoenas. Further, NAMIC and Big I said many of FIO’s reports or positions have “[failed] to include factual and data-driven contributions and perspectives.”
The latest FIO publication was an early 2025 report on the affordability and availability of insurance that the FIO called the “most comprehensive data on homeowners’ insurance in history.” Predictably, the opinion was not shared by the insurance industry.
Efforts to do away with the FIO are not new. In fact, in March of 2021, legislation to eliminate the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate. S.524 was reintroduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and cosponsored by three other Republicans. No Democrats cosponsored the legislation.
Continuing the FIO’s ever-expanding reach, the Biden Administration issued a 2021 Executive Order that instructs the FIO to assess climate-related factors in its oversight of insurance companies, examine the potential effects of climate change on financial institutions, and determine whether climate change could affect insurers’ financial stability.
In the wake of these actions, on April 27, 2023, Congressman Ben Cline (R-VA) reintroduced the Federal Insurance Office Elimination Act. This legislation was described as an effort to restore the oversight duties of the state insurance regulators by eliminating the Federal Insurance Office (FIO), an unnecessary federal agency created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Congressman Cline was joined by Congressmen Alex Mooney (R-WV), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Randy Weber (R-TX), and Glenn Grothman (R-WI) as original cosponsors. This bill is endorsed by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA).
Whether abolishment of the Federal Insurance Office will be consummated, remains to be seen. As of the date of this writing, the Act has not passed into law. It was introduced on January 23, 2025, and referred to the legislative Committee on Financial Services. Since then, there has been no official legislative activity, However, support for the Act and opposition to the FIO from all segments of the insurance industry and those who regulate it has been overwhelming.