Sponsors (4)
Introduced January 16, 2026 by Troy Downing · Last progress January 16, 2026
This bill centralizes federal insurance authority under the Treasury and gives state regulators a formal FSOC role to improve coordination and international negotiating leverage, but it does so by eliminating an independent Federal Insurance Office—trading specialized, independent oversight and some state autonomy for greater centralization, faster decision‑making, and potential administrative savings.
State insurance commissioners (and thus state regulators) gain a formal, Presidential‑appointed seat on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (and acting participation/nomination processes), giving states a direct voice in systemic financial stability decisions and preserving continuity of representation.
U.S. insurers and state regulators receive clearer federal coordination on international prudential insurance rules (with Treasury negotiating covered agreements and Congress receiving reports/studies), which can reduce cross‑border regulatory uncertainty, improve foreign market access for insurers, and increase transparency for policymakers.
Consumers and markets may benefit from streamlined and consolidated insurance authority under the Secretary of the Treasury or a designated U.S. Insurance Representative, which clarifies interagency roles, reduces ambiguity, and can speed decision‑making and make accountability for insurance policy choices more readily identifiable to taxpayers.
Federal Insurance Office (FIO) elimination and removal from statutory references means federal insurance oversight loses an independent, specialized office—reducing technical expertise, independent advocacy, and formal transparency that previously supported consumer protections and industry monitoring.
Concentrating insurance authority in the Secretary of the Treasury (or a Presidential designee) risks politicizing insurance oversight, reducing continuity and stakeholder access to policymaking, and creating tensions with state regulators and other federal agencies over supervision scope.
State regulatory authority can be overridden by covered‑agreement preemption, meaning state laws and standards could be displaced, reducing local control over insurance regulation.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Eliminates the Federal Insurance Office, creates a United States Insurance Representative in Treasury, reallocates FIO duties, and adds a Presidentially appointed state insurance commissioner to FSOC.
Eliminates the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) and replaces it with a new United States Insurance Representative inside the Department of the Treasury, who will focus on international prudential insurance policy, covered agreements, and coordination with state regulators and the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program. It shifts many statutory references and responsibilities from the FIO to either the Treasury Secretary or the new Representative, and adds a Presidentially appointed state insurance commissioner to the Financial Stability Oversight Council with a formal NAIC-based nomination process and temporary acting-member rules.