Sponsors (5)
Official title: To eliminate the Federal Insurance Office of the Department of the Treasury and to establish a United States Insurance Representative within the Department of the Treasury, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 16, 2026 by Troy Downing · Last progress January 16, 2026
The bill centralizes and clarifies federal insurance coordination and elevates state regulators' voice on systemic matters—which can speed decisions and improve international market access and accountability—while eliminating an independent Federal Insurance Office, raising risks of reduced specialized oversight, politicization, transitional uncertainty, and legal/compliance costs for states, insurers, consumers, and federal employees.
State insurance commissioners gain a Presidential-appointed (and Senate-confirmed) FSOC seat and related continuity rules (acting nonvoting participation, NAIC nomination backstop, ability to stay up to 18 months), giving state regulators a direct, continuous voice in systemic financial stability decisions.
U.S. insurers and state regulators get clearer federal coordination on international prudential insurance rules by centralizing authority under the Treasury or a U.S. Insurance Representative, which can reduce cross-border regulatory uncertainty, support covered‑agreement negotiations, and improve foreign market access for U.S. insurers (plus required annual reports increase transparency).
Policyholders and state consumer-protection regimes are preserved because preemption of state rules under covered agreements is limited—preemption requires substantially equivalent consumer protections—protecting consumer rights from wholesale federal preemption.
Millions of consumers, state regulators, and insurers lose an independent Federal Insurance Office that provided specialized expertise, monitoring, advocacy, and formal statutory recognition (including FSOC data‑sharing), reducing independent oversight and potentially weakening consumer protections and industry monitoring.
Federal employees in the current FIO will face job losses, reassignments, or disruption; related provisions also risk sidestepping civil‑service safeguards for acting appointments, which harms career staff and institutional continuity.
State regulatory authority can be reduced when a covered agreement preempts state measures, and making the FSOC seat a Presidential appointment with Senate confirmation risks politicizing the state representative and shifting selection away from state preferences.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Eliminates the Federal Insurance Office, creates a United States Insurance Representative in Treasury, shifts FIO functions to Treasury/Representative, and adds a State insurance commissioner to FSOC.
Creates a new United States Insurance Representative within the Department of the Treasury, eliminates the existing Federal Insurance Office (FIO) and its Director, and shifts many statutory FIO responsibilities to the Secretary of the Treasury or the new Representative. Adds a Presidentially nominated, Senate‑confirmed State insurance commissioner as a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and updates cross‑references in multiple statutes to reflect the reorganized roles. The bill limits the Representative’s jurisdiction to prudential aspects of most lines of insurance while expressly excluding most health insurance, most long‑term care insurance, and federal crop insurance; it requires the Secretary to appoint the Representative and hire staff within one year and to coordinate with the Department of Health and Human Services where indicated.