Nevada insurance commissioner asks lawmakers for staff, funds to shorten complaint timelines and address rising insurance costs

Scott Kipper, Nevada insurance commissioner, told a joint legislative subcommittee that his division is seeking several new positions and modest budget increases to handle a rising workload tied to higher auto and homeowners insurance costs and other regulatory demands.

Kipper said the division regulates roughly $25 billion in premiums and supervises about 1,500 authorized insurers, including about 140 domiciled in Nevada, and roughly 265,000 licensees (about 25,000 of whom are Nevada residents). He described a mix of workload drivers that include rising auto rates, wildfire and catastrophe pressures on homeowners coverage and new regulatory work tied to the state—s health plan efforts.

The division—s budget requests include three decision-unit staffing requests in the 2-series: one legal researcher, one management analyst and one business process analyst (item E225); a compliance investigator likely to be placed in the Las Vegas office (E226); and one additional general counsel to bolster the legal section (E227). Kipper gave the committee a fiscal estimate for the first enhancement: "you can see the budgetary impact for FY '26 at 275,000 and for FY '27 at 340,000." He also described smaller requests for hardware replacement, a single fleet vehicle for emergency response, and an adjustment that transfers one IT professional into a centralized IT budget.

Kipper and committee members discussed timelines for investigations and filings. He said the division closes investigative complaints in an average of 42 days and that the volume of complaints "has increased by a factor of 50% over the last 4 years." He cited consumer frustration tied to rising auto insurance costs and longer adjudication times for property/water claims as primary drivers for that growth: "Consumers rightfully so may run out of patience. And they turn to us. We provide assistance to speed that process along." The commissioner said turnaround on actuarial rate filings has improved and that the division currently has one property-and-casualty actuary; he said contract staff have helped reduce a backlog so the division now has "less than 25 open filings" with the oldest around six months.

Kipper also addressed the division—s captive insurance and self-insurance accounts (budget 3818 and account 4684). He said Nevada—s captive program has about 145 domiciled captives and that recent IRS guidance affecting 831(b) captives has prompted a number of small captives to leave the business. "We have lost over 50 of these smaller insurance companies over the course of the last several months," he said, and noted that captive-related premium taxes feed a small captive budget that currently brings in about $375,000–$380,000 annually and is capped at $500,000.

Committee members pressed for specifics about how requested staff would be used. Kipper said the business process analyst would help manage an RFP and transition to a new back-office system and would "quarterback this transition," improving staff training and use of new tools. The additional legal positions are intended to relieve licensed attorneys and deputy attorney generals who currently handle heavy caseloads; Kipper pointed to insolvency work such as the receivership of Friday Health Plans as an example of resource-intensive legal work.

No formal committee action or vote was recorded during the presentation; the discussion concluded when the committee moved to the next budget presentation.

Ending: The division—s director asked legislators for the proposed positions and cost adjustments to be approved so the office can reduce complaint timelines and manage increasing regulatory workload.