Committee advances NAIC‑aligned insurance holding‑company reforms to preserve accreditation

The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance voted to favorably pass bill 36‑0184 on Dec. 15. The bill would amend Title 22 Chapter 14 to implement NAIC 2020–21 revisions to the Insurance Holding Company System Regulatory Act, adding group capital calculation and liquidity stress‑test tools and enhancing receivership authority over affiliates that perform integral services for domestic insurers.

Suzette Richards, legal counsel for the Division of Banking, Insurance and Financial Regulation (office of the Lieutenant Governor), testified the revisions are required to preserve the division’s NAIC accreditation, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Richards said the adoption of group capital calculation and the NAIC liquidity stress framework will help regulators identify capital and liquidity vulnerabilities at the group level before they threaten insurer solvency. She also described receivership provisions that ensure affiliate agreements for essential services remain accessible to a receiver in a delinquency proceeding.

The division asked for a technical drafting correction to the bill’s redesignation clause (the bill adds three new definitions and the division recommended the subsection redesignation reflect 18 paragraphs rather than 16 to avoid codification ambiguity). With that correction, the division said it fully supports enactment.

Senators asked technical questions about which firms are in scope and how the stress tests operate in practice. Legal counsel said the liquidity stress framework will initially target large life insurers and that both tools are confidential regulator‑only information designed to provide early supervisory signals, not public disclosure.

The committee approved the bill and will send it to Rules & Judiciary for final drafting and floor action.