How an accountability bill for bad actors in the insurance industry died

After sailing through the Senate with minor changes, Senate Bill 5331, which sought to expand the authority of the Insurance Commissioner to seek restitution and penalize bad actors, failed 8-7 in the House Consumer Protection and Business Committee last month. The story behind why points to friction between new Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and committee members and possible friendliness among committee members toward the insurers the agency sought to regulate.  

Kuderer, a former state Senator, ran on strengthening consumer protections and penalties for the industry’s worst offenders. SB 5331 was one of the first steps toward strengthening some of the weaker points of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s enforcement power over this billion-dollar industry. The bill aimed to give the office new authority to demand restitution for consumers harmed by insurers and update the fine structure for property and casualty insurers to align with the rest of the industry. 

The bill exited the Senate floor with minor changes on a 30-19 vote before landing in the House Consumer Protection and Business Committee, chaired by Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, who was Kuderer’s seatmate in the 48th Legislative District. During the March public hearing for SB 5331 in this committee, the tensions between Kuderer and committee members, though not necessarily Walen, became apparent.