Around the PIA Western Alliance States – Week of December 8, 2025

Alaska — Work Comp Rates: The Alaska Division of Insurance has made a major deduction in workers’ compensation rates. Next year businesses will see a 3.7% drop in their voluntary loss-cost rates and a 4.8% reduction in assigned risk rates.

AM Best analysis did an analysis of workplace accidents over the last 30 years and found them down 70%.

These are Alaska’s five largest workers’ compensation insurers:

• CopperPoint Insurance group — 30.35% of Alaska’s work comp policies
• Western National Insurance Group — 11.61% of Alaska’s work comp policies
• Liberty Mutual — 9.18% of Alaska’s work comp policies
• Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group — 7.47% of Alaska’s work comp policies
• Amerisafe Insurance Group — 4.77% of Alaska’s work comp policies

Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/4oNC94R

Arizona — Study Group Report on Wildfire Risk: The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions has issued the Resiliency and Mitigation Council’s report on wildfires. It wants a multi-faceted address to solving the issue of wildfires and unaffordable insurance.

The council held hearings from December of last year to September of this year and suggests working with homeowners, communities and insurers to begin the process.

Here are highlights of the study:

• It looked at the frequency and severity of natural disasters
• These include wildfires and flooding
• It addresses the regulatory authority of the state over insurance rates
• It looks at the effect of insurance losses on the availability and the affordability of homeowners insurance
• Forestry management and wildfire mitigation is part of the discussion
• Building codes and practices are part of the plan

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/4q4QJq1

Oregon — Oregon DFR joins NASAA, other states, in multimillion dollar settlement with investment institutions: The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation has joined the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) in a multimillion dollar settlement with five investment institutions. The settlement resulted from an investigation by state securities regulators into the practice of charging unreasonable commissions to retail customers on small-dollar transactions by Edward Jones, LPL Financial, RBC, Stifel, and TD Ameritrade. In the five-year period covered by the investigation, data shows that, nationwide, the firms charged approximately $19 million to process $1.12 million small-dollar equity transactions and trades.

The signed consent orders totaled over $361,000 going back to Oregonians. Oregon DFR Administrator TK Keen said it is important that states continue to work together.

“Oregonians work hard for their money, and deserve a fair deal every time they invest or make a trade,” Keen said. “When Oregonians were charged excessive commissions on everyday transactions, this office and our fellow regulators nationwide quickly stepped in and got restitution back to harmed Oregon investors.”

The following consent orders were entered:

·       Edward Jones will repay Oregon investors $203,494.79 (plus 6 percent interest) and pay a civil penalty of $100,000 to DFR.

·       LPL Financial will repay Oregon investors $31,526.08 (plus 6 percent interest) and pay a civil penalty of $20,000 to DFR. 

·       Stifel will repay Oregon investors $9,752.39 (plus 6 percent interest) and pay a civil penalty of $20,000 to DFR.

·       TD Ameritrade will repay Oregon investors $11,220.85 (plus 6 percent interest) and pay a civil penalty of $15,000 to DFR.

·       RBC will repay Oregon investors $105,309.85 (plus 6 percent interest) and pay a civil penalty of $20,000 to DFR.

The consent orders censure the firms for their actions and require the firms to review and improve their policies, procedures, and supervision efforts relating to commissions on equity transactions to prevent similar overcharges in the future. The firms are responsible for directly notifying and providing restitution to affected Oregon customers. In most cases, affected Oregon investors will not need to take any action to receive their funds.  Further, DFR will receive a report detailing the restitution paid, which will include dates, amounts, and methods of transfer of funds for all restitution payments.

Keen encourages all investors to review their account statements and trade confirmations and contact the division if they believe they have been overcharged or misled.

“Whether it’s a few hundred dollars or a few thousand, the division will stand up for Oregon’s investors and hold firms accountable when they break the rules,” he said. “We will continue to aggressively police unreasonable fees and commissions and protect Oregon families from financial harm.”

DFR’s consumer advocates are available to help people by phone at 1-888-877-4894 (toll-free) or email at dfr.insurancehelp@dcbs.oregon.gov or dfr.financialserviceshelp@dcbs.oregon.gov.

Washington — The 2026 Legislature Goals of Insurance Commissioner Patty Kurderer: This is a link to a video of a presentation Commissioner Kurderer made last week. It outlines her focus for the 2026 session of the Washington Legislature.

Kurderer Goals — https://bit.ly/4rKRyWj

Washington — OIC, DNR deliver wildfire resiliency work group’s report to Legislature: The Wildfire Mitigation and Resiliency Standards Work Group, co-chaired by Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove, delivered its final report and recommendations to the Legislature (PDF 1.02MB) on Monday.

The report recommends establishing a voluntary grant program to help residential properties resist wildfire loss. Work group members also agreed upon the need to enhance mitigation at the community level, improve data sharing between state agencies and the insurance industry, and improve risk transparency for consumers.

“Wildfires pose an immense danger to some of our rural residents and a significant risk to insurance companies doing business in Washington,” Kuderer said. “This report offers several excellent recommendations to address both of those aspects, and I hope the Legislature acts on them.”

Enhancing mitigation at the community level is an important step, Upthegrove said. The report recommends expanding the Department of Natural Resources’ Community Resilience program and returning full funding to DNR’s wildfire response, forest restoration and community resilience accounts.

“No one is immune from the impacts of wildfire — we need to take these recommendations seriously,” Upthegrove said. “But right now the most concrete action our legislators can take is restoring full funding to DNR’s Wildfire Response, Forest Restoration, and Community Resilience account because preventing and responding to wildfires is a basic, core function of government.”

Substitute House Bill 1539 established the work group to study, and make recommendations on, wildfire mitigation and resiliency standards. Members included experts and representatives from state agencies, the insurance industry, fire services, local governments, Tribes, utilities, landowners and non-profit organizations.

The group met seven times in July and August to hear presentations from fire, mitigation and insurance experts from across the country, with a final meeting in October to discuss recommendations.

Recommendations

The Legislature asked the work group to focus on five areas of study. The report includes results from each area.

    The group could not reach a consensus and recommended further study — including reconstituting the work group with support from the State Fire Marshall’s Office — on coordinating and aligning state and DNR wildfire property mitigation standards with nationally-recognized, science-based wildfire mitigation standards.

    To enhance wildfire mitigation at the community level, the group recommended expanding DNR’s Community Resilience program, with additional campaigns to encourage participation. This point also included full funding for DNR’s wildfire response, forest restoration and community resilience account, and increased funding for community mitigation efforts.

    The group broadly agreed on the importance of coordinating wildfire hazard, risk and mitigation data among state agencies, local entities and the insurance industry, and offered three recommendations to improve data sharing capabilities.

    The group made three recommendations on improving consumer transparency for wildfire hazard and risk:

        Consider requiring insurers to internally track instances in which wildfire risk materially contributes to a policy nonrenewal, cancellation or eligibility determination, with that information being available to regulators and lawmakers upon request.

        Consider requiring insurers to share wildfire risk scores, and a clear explanation for those scores, with consumers if the scores are used to determine eligibility or pricing.

        Consider developing a consumer education program to explain wildfire risk assessment methods and connect homeowners with available funding or technical assistance programs.

    The recommended grant program would help homeowners retrofit their homes to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s (IBHS) Wildfire Prepared Home standards. The program would apply to existing structures, not new construction; prioritize projects in areas with high wildfire risk, limited insurance access and historically underserved populations; and balance scientific rigor, cost-effectiveness and equitable access. The program would be expected to reduce the number of home insurance non-renewals and cancellations due to wildfire risk and would promote measurable wildfire risk reduction across the state.

The 2026 Legislative Session convenes on January 12.