Around the PIA Western Alliance States – Week of September 7, 2026
Published September 8, 2026 at 2:28 PM · News Releases and Bulletins
Oregon — SAIF Posts $50 Million Dividend: Oregon’s State Accident and Insurance Fund (SAIF) is now distributing $50 million to policyholders. It is the 17th straight year SAIF has issued dividends.
Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/46f8o6p
Oregon — All Health, Life, and Property and Casualty Insurers: The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation has issued a bulletin regarding Arbitration Clauses, Choice of Law, and Choice of Venue Provisions in Insurance Policies.
Purpose
The purpose of this bulletin is to remind all insurers of the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) Division of Financial Regulation’s (DFR) policy with regards to pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clauses, choice of law provisions, and choice of venue provisions in insurance policies. These provisions unfairly limit or impose unreasonable preconditions on policy holders’ ability to adjudicate their disputes in state courts under the protection of Oregon law. These provisions are prohibited in all lines of insurance.
This bulletin replaces Bulletin No. DFR 2020-1 issued January 14, 2020.
Guidance
Insurance policies may not contain pre-dispute mandatory arbitration clauses (other than those noted above), choice of law provisions, or choice of venue provisions. Any policy form filing containing these provisions will be disapproved.
Click here to review this bulletin:
Oregon — All Admitted Insurers: The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation has issued a revised bulletin regarding affected areas subject to the Wildfire Emergency Order.
Purpose
This revised bulletin lists the Affected Areas subject to the July 31, 2026, Wildfire Emergency Order by ZIP code.
As the wildfire situation changes and as evacuation orders continue to be adjusted, the Division of Financial Regulation will make updates as needed to the listed ZIP codes on a timely basis.
Oregon — The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation recently announced the following permanent rulemaking: ID 15-2026: Increases the application, license issuance, license renewal fees charged to insurance producers, adjusters, insurance consultants.
Rules: 836-009-0007
Summary: This rule establishes the fees charged to insurance producers, adjusters, and insurance consultants for applications, license issuance, and license renewal.
Filed: August 21, 2026
Effective: September 1, 2026
For more information on this recently adopted rule, please visit the division's website:
Oregon — DCBS Information Regarding Phishing Incident: The Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) recently identified and responded to a phishing incident involving a single employee email account. This message follows, to provide general information to our peers and customers.
On or around Aug. 26, 2026, phishing emails were sent from one DCBS email address to a number of internal and external recipients. Individuals and organizations who were known to have received the phishing email were directly notified and provided information about what to look for and what actions to take in response.
Based on the investigation to date, no additional compromise has been identified. The compromised employee account was quickly identified, the malicious activity was stopped, and available phishing messages were removed from State-managed email systems.
DCBS, working with the State’s cybersecurity team, will complete its review of what happened. As part of the follow-up, DCBS will provide additional phishing awareness training to employees and reinforce existing security practices related to suspicious emails, attachments, links, and requests for login credentials.
Phishing remains a common method used by cyber threat actors to gain unauthorized access to organizational accounts. DCBS remains committed to protecting State systems and information and will continue taking appropriate measures to reduce the risk of similar incidents.
For more information, please contact Division of Financial Regulation Deputy Administrator Alex Cheng at Alex.Cheng@dcbs.oregon.gov.
Oregon — The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation recently announced the following proposed rulemaking: Filing Caption: Amending to add ORP payment parameters for plan year 2027
Rules Proposed: 836-150-0020, 836-150-0040
Rules Summary: Amended to define "benefit year" beginning January 1 ending December 31. The amended rule will include payment parameters for plan year 2027 (attachment point of $131,000; reinsurance cap of $1,000,000; and coinsurance rate of 50%), while deleting the provisions related to plan year 2022.
Filed: August 20, 2026
Hearing date/time: September 22, 2026, 11 AM
Last Day and Time to Offer Comment to Agency: September 29, 2026, 5:00 PM
For more information on recently proposed rulemaking, please visit the division's website: https://bit.ly/3UHExB5
Washington — What we learned at Spokane’s Disaster Assistance Center: The Office of the Insurance Commissioner deployed staff to the Disaster Assistance Center at Shadle Park High School immediately after the Spokane Complex Fire started in early August.
On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, the two OIC staffers who spent the most time in Spokane helping with fire recovery discuss what they saw, what they learned, the benefits of having insurance companies send representatives to the DAC to help with claims, and what people might not realize about their home insurance until it’s too late.
LISTEN — https://bit.ly/4r6Vn8I
Washington — Sept. 14 wildfire claims workshop to feature fraud, recovery tips: The Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s next workshop for wildfire survivors in Spokane navigating the insurance claims process is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 14.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau will provide tips on preventing fraud and scams, and the non-profit organization United Policyholders will share best practices on wildfire recovery at the Sept. 14 meeting.
Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer’s office began hosting the workshops in response to the Spokane Complex Fire. Claim experts will be on site to tell you what you should know and expect about the claims process, share best practices, and answer questions.
Washington — Prepublication draft posted for allowing additional benefits in life and disability insurance (R 2026-03): The Commissioner released a prepublication draft for the allowing additional benefits in life and disability insurance rulemaking (R 2026-03).
This proposed rule would allow additional noninsurance benefits in life and group disability insurance policies. This rulemaking aims to ensure that consumers can access noninsurance benefits that may be of value but are not allowed by current law.
Current law allows insurers to offer certain specific noninsurance benefits in individual and group life insurance and group disability insurance policies. Noninsurance benefits include services like preparing a will, financial and estate planning, probate and estate settlement, and others. The Commissioner has authority to identify other allowable services by rule.
The Commissioner believes that consumers may benefit from access to additional noninsurance benefits and is considering rulemaking to expand the list of benefits that insurers can offer.
The comment period for this prepublication draft began at 8 a.m. on August 31, 2026, and will close at 11:59 p.m. on September 14, 2026. Please send comments to rulescoordinator@oic.wa.gov.
For more information, including the notice to start rulemaking (CR-101) and prepublication draft text, please visit the rule webpage.