State risk management official briefs Senate committee on workers’ comp, liability and flood insurance trends

Rebecca White, director of risk management at the Vermont Agency of Administration, told the Senate Committee on Government Operations on Feb. 18 that the office’s fiscal‑year insurance and claims metrics show mixed trends across workers’ compensation, general liability and property/flood coverage as the state prepares its FY 2026 budget request.

White told the committee the state remains self‑insured for workers’ compensation and that ‘‘we are completely self insured. So the state pays, you know, if there's a catastrophic claim, we pay, you know, all of it.’’ She presented counts, department shares of claims and rate metrics used to allocate premiums to state agencies.

The briefing matters because changes in claims volume and insurance market pricing affect departments’ internal premiums and the state’s fiscal exposure. White said the office watches ‘‘pure premium’’ metrics (cost per $100 of payroll) and other measures to set prevention targets and bill individual departments.

Key facts and figures presented by White: - Workers’ compensation claims filed in 2024: 692. - Department shares of workers’ compensation claims (approximate percentages given at the hearing): Corrections about 22%; Transportation about 21%; Public safety about 12.5%; Department of Mental Health about 6.1%; Building and General Services about 3.7%. - General liability claims filed in 2024: 140. - General liability pure premium reported about $0.53 per $100 of payroll; workers’ compensation pure premium reported near $0.90 (per $100 of payroll), and an auto insurance metric at 83 (target 80). - Departments are billed $447 per state‑owned vehicle for auto insurance coverage, White said, and the billed amount rose after several severe accidents.

White described prevention and workplace‑safety work tied to premium allocation. ‘‘We do the ergonomic assessments and risk management pays for it, but the department is expected if the recommendation is, say, get a new keyboard or wrist rest or even a new chair or sit‑stand desk that the department pays for that,’’ she said, describing how the office funds assessments while departments implement equipment recommendations. She said an on‑staff safety specialist conducts ergonomic and workflow reviews for departments including corrections and Building and General Services.

On flood and property insurance, White told the panel the state saw an unusual market response after the 2023 floods. She said the state received roughly $50,000,000 from insurers for 2023 flood claims and that competition in the market led to increased coverage and a lower premium: ‘‘we got $5,000,000 extra in flood coverage. So now we have $50,000,000 flood insurance. Before we had 45,000,000, and they lowered the insurance by a million dollars for the property in the floods this year.’’ White emphasized market volatility and climate risk as ongoing concerns.

Committee members pressed on prevention, fiscal impacts and the broader insurance market. Senator Allison Clarkson praised the focus on targets and asked how the office works to reduce claims; she said, ‘‘I really appreciated that you started with, here's what our target is and what we seek to get to.’’ Senators and committee members asked for follow‑up details White offered to provide, including the percentage of filed workers’ compensation claims that are accepted and additional information from the state’s insurance broker on market conditions and pricing differentials.

White also reviewed other lines of coverage the office manages or places, including aviation, cyber, terrorism and specialty coverages. She said cyber‑insurance pricing had flattened in the most recent renewal cycle after several years of increases; terrorism coverage costs have declined and currently represent a small cost for the state’s portfolio. She identified the National Flood Insurance Program (FEMA), private markets (including Lloyd’s of London) and federal programs (TRIA for terrorism coverage) as relevant to the state’s sourcing of coverage.

White said the policy year for many coverages runs with the fiscal year, July 1 through June 30. She told the committee that state practice is to contract with a broker to access national and international markets to place coverage and to work closely with the Attorney General’s Office on general liability defense for claims the state receives.

The session produced no formal committee votes. White committed to follow up with the committee on several items she did not have at the table: the share of filed workers’ compensation claims that are accepted versus denied, additional detail on flood insurance pricing and the broker’s market assessment.

White has served as the state’s director of risk management since 2015; she told the committee she previously held risk management positions in New Hampshire and Dutchess County, New York. The committee asked for the requested follow‑up information in the coming weeks.