[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},"mediaId",6368498,"mediaKeyId","2157066-0a0ea7a3df5b4368d6b11dca73a9b1ed","parentId",2157066,"title","Maryland Auto Insurance Fund forecasts smaller assessment as policy count and claims shift","audioSeconds",804,"startMs",2648000,"endMs",3452000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2157066-0a0ea7a3df5b4368d6b11dca73a9b1ed&start=2648&end=3452","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2157066-0a0ea7a3df5b4368d6b11dca73a9b1ed/thumbnail_2648000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6368498/Maryland/Maryland-Auto-Insurance-Fund-forecasts-smaller-assessment-as-policy-count-and-claims-shift","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6368498-29da4d3bd0a81def04efdf7b230facc2/orig.mp4?Expires=1775412711&Signature=dOEQEvfEZMyq4NUeAhR7EN23p9mu8nmVf7kNzaQ1kUfRXiznIyEGBhDmwA~QfzHX97deSrTmrurLmLlAitXExTbLK~yLbQhX0-U0rv8DzKcbkVPIL6Z-~Ic~mUp9DeATaOepWjI-DDOlcHhfSk~NJr-Tx9EKQm2XKK6YfLXHboiPXOuvAequaoL6z8z4sIt763foiPMvTB~KNIXaK0R1RTl1jTXfBBuNeDoE9kAs78OI2LiGvRb~LQcZvZQfbzj5LpN0mUhDxkntphkSJuBxOoIT8lnDssVA789L1g1iYrdePKRinuuvcqZkBK15dIEEsh8SvNTQ~DZNiUI43EFlTA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","","date","2025-01-28T17:08:33.987Z","article","Maryland Auto Insurance Fund officials told the Transportation and the Environment Subcommittee that the fund's calendar 2025 budget will rise and that ongoing industry shifts could reduce the assessment the fund expects to levy on insurers.

Scott Benson, the committee's legislative analyst, summarized Department of Legislative Services findings that calendar 2025 budgets increase by $2.7 million (7.3%) to $40.3 million, and that the insured division is driving most of the change. Benson noted the insured division has operated at a net loss since 2023 and that an assessment projected for 2025 would help restore surplus levels.

Maryland Auto's government relations manager, Devon Brown, introduced the agency panel and turned the presentation to Director Al Redmer. Redmer told the committee that market behavior following the pandemic first reduced claims and then led to large losses in 2021–2022 as carriers tightened underwriting and stopped writing certain risks. \"Beginning in the second half of 22, they stopped writing as much new business, and those folks had no place to go, but to come to us,\" Redmer said. He said Maryland Auto's policy count more than doubled over the last two years because standard-market carriers reduced new business.

Nut graf: Agency officials said that while calendar 2025 shows continued costs, they now expect the 2025 assessment to be below earlier estimates (Redmer said it may be below $20 million and possibly about $15 million), contingent on evolving industry conditions and policy counts returning toward normal.

Panelists described the insured division's financial picture: Scott Benson and Al Redmer cited prior-year net losses (about $14.6 million in 2023, $21 million in 2024 estimated) and a projected 2025 insured-division net loss of $13.7 million before assessment. Redmer said December 2024 numbers improved the outlook and that an assessment based on 2024 could be \"somewhere below $20,000,000\" and perhaps nearer to $15,000,000 for the 2025 assessment.

Maryland Auto's COO David Pfeiffer and controller Amy Nell described rate actions taken by the fund: a roughly 6.5% increase in 2023 and a 13.8% increase that took effect in January 2025, with an additional change planned for July. The uninsured division (the victims fund) showed an estimated negative surplus this year but officials said they expect the division to be in surplus by the end of calendar 2025 and described the posted negative surplus as a conservative actuarial result tied to claim reserves.

Committee members asked whether the fund's investment portfolio could be used to avoid an assessment. Agency officials explained that statutory accounting treats reserves and unearned premiums as liabilities; Redmer said the fund holds an investment portfolio (described in testimony at about $152 million) but liabilities for reserves (about $80 million) and unearned premiums constrain how much of the portfolio can be applied to reduce the assessment under current law. \"The calculation is is you take, and again, I'll I'll let, as Amy always does, she corrects me when I'm wrong, so she'll do so again this time. So if if we take a $152,000,000 that's cash in the bank,\" Redmer said, and later the panel described how statutory accounting differs from cash flow.

Officials estimated the per-policy impact of a $21 million assessment at about $3 per $1,000 of premium (roughly $6–$8 per policy in the example provided) and said the expected assessment near $15 million would be smaller. They cautioned that the fund's future assessments depend on market underwriting behavior and the number of policies the standard market writes.

Ending: Committee members thanked agency staff and said they will continue oversight with the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Economic Matters Committee; no formal vote was recorded in the transcript.
","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","T&E Committee Session, 1/27/2025 #1","oneSentenceSummary","Maryland Auto Insurance Fund officials briefed the subcommittee on a projected calendar 2025 budget increase, changing policy counts, and a projected assessment that the director said may be lower than prior estimates as industry conditions evolve.","taxTitle","Transportation and the Environment Subcommittee, Appropriations Committee, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Committees, Legislative, Maryland","taxId",78565,"location","Maryland","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":56,"_74":56},6368504,"Office of People's Counsel projects modest budget increase as casework and calls surge",523,318000,841000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2157066-0a0ea7a3df5b4368d6b11dca73a9b1ed&start=318&end=841","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2157066-0a0ea7a3df5b4368d6b11dca73a9b1ed/thumbnail_318000.jpg","/articles/6368504/Maryland/Office-of-Peoples-Counsel-projects-modest-budget-increase-as-casework-and-calls-surge","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6368504-f50131cb2ffb07afb644d0c791527f82/orig.mp4?Expires=1775412711&Signature=eV9G1i9UZifBpKn2eaEScq4VbqDrqnaOC67V1a0qTlg3CJmtUvy6xL3JrtansfUl16XsOKr~Tp8QIBeg-WIEYytd4ZU8dMd4BUiZlrqz-GLMbVwNOgJC0OpCaABk8XOV-ELj562qhFx7BFzun8F36NsZ73bZ6VVbNro1DzQLYNT5tRtQokpvPBeA0zEBYXmgKr6mC2GgRwtOBfITIlljtmWlzrQ8p5CxzUmpaMS5C-HZ9VJIaRAYrqqYA2DPIXiivKbn6HJ7Q1kJ~rbJB2FTsb9lBfsJXGfWASlaeMbb-5CyP49ON6kiGuhjbhcf2-zWCeBCTbBMYdDwIs5o72ybPA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Office of People's Counsel presented a small operating-budget increase for fiscal 2026 while warning committee members that its workload has grown substantially.

Saviksha Pujal, the budget analyst who delivered the Department of Legislative Services review, told the Transportation and the Environment Subcommittee that \"the operating budget for OPC increases by 35,000 or 0.4 percent to a total of 8,300,000 in fiscal 2026.\" She said 53% of the budget is for personnel and about 40% is for outside legal services, and that 27 positions are authorized for fiscal 2026, unchanged from the prior year.

The Office of People's Counsel’s head of representation, David Lapp, said the office has experienced a sustained rise in workload and more-complex matters. \"OPC case participation levels has reached its highest point in recent years in fiscal 2024 at 288 cases which is an increase of 53 cases or 22.6% increase from fiscal 20 3,\" Lapp said, noting that the growth includes a large number of federal matters before FERC and multiple new state dockets arising from recent legislation.

Nut graf: Committee members heard that the budget change is small in dollar terms but comes amid a surge in cases, consumer contacts and complex proceedings — trends that OPC says require staff training and additional time before workload reductions materialize.

OPC staff said the caseload increase is driven in part by federal and regional electric market issues and by state policy changes. Lapp told the panel that roughly 60% of the average Maryland customer's electric bill reflects federally jurisdictional costs flowing through the regional operator PJM and regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He described numerous FERC dockets and new generation-capacity and transmission questions that have increased OPC's workload.

Pujal and Lapp also said consumer contacts have risen sharply: the transcript records 1,937 calls to OPC in fiscal 2024, a 41.2% increase over fiscal 2023 and the highest total since at least 2009. OPC attributed the increase largely to inquiries about reduced energy benefits from the Department of Human Services and rising utility rates.

Committee members asked OPC for clarifications about its statutory funding cap. Lapp explained the office operates under a statutory cap set as a percentage of statewide utility revenues and said OPC's cap is currently 0.074 (described in the hearing as \"point 0.074\"). He said that revenue increases can raise the funding available under the cap and that OPC's budget currently sits about $1,000,000 under the cap.

Members pressed OPC on specific reliability and cost-allocation matters tied to transmission projects, including the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP) and projects PJM is proposing to serve data-center growth. Lapp said OPC remains \"skeptical\" of some project cost allocations and that OPC is a party to the certificate-of-public-need-and-necessity proceeding; he said OPC is reviewing the facts and law before taking a formal position.

The presentation concluded with DLS recommending concurrence with the governor's proposed operating budget for OPC; no formal vote was recorded in the transcript.

Ending: Committee members thanked OPC staff for the briefing and said they look forward to continued work with the office during the legislative session.","The Office of People's Counsel (OPC) presented a $35,000 (0.4%) operating budget increase for fiscal 2026 and described a sharp rise in casework and consumer calls tied to rate increases and reductions in energy benefits.","actionData","errors"]

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Maryland Auto Insurance Fund forecasts smaller assessment as policy count and claims shift

Office of People's Counsel projects modest budget increase as casework and calls surge