Commissioner Kuderer testifies on restitution bill

03/19/2025

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer made her case for Senate Bill 5331 on Wednesday, stressing the importance of restitution payments for people financially harmed by an insurance company or agent.

“As the consumer watchdog, people expect us to help them when they’ve been harmed by a company they’ve trusted,” Kuderer said during testimony before the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee. “They expect us to be able to make them whole.”

The bill, requested by Kuderer and prime sponsored by Senator Adrian Cortes (D - Battle…

State Senate passes restitution, credit scoring study bills

03/03/2025

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington State Senate passed three bills with insurance implications Monday.

The legislation moving on to the House of Representatives includes a bill giving the state Insurance Commissioner the authority to order restitution to harmed policyholders and a bill studying the impacts of insurance rating factors, including credit scores.

“This is great news for the people of Washington,” state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer said. “These consumer protection bills take important steps to hold insurance companies accountable for how they treat their…

Bill to study impact of insurance rating factors moves out of committee

02/20/2025

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A senate bill proposing a study of the impact of rating factors, including credit history passed out of committee in the Washington State Senate on Thursday.

Senate Bill 5589, proposed by Washington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and sponsored by Sen. Bob Hasegawa (D – Seattle), requires Kuderer’s office to conduct a study on how insurance companies use credit history, credit-based insurance scores and other rate factors that may have disparate impacts on Washington residents. The study would also explore alternatives to credit scoring that companies…

Bill providing restitution for harmed policyholders moves out of committee

02/19/2025

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Legislation (Senate Bill 5331) giving Washington’s Insurance Commissioner the authority to order restitution for harmed policyholders was voted out of the state’s Senate Business, Financial Services and Trade Committee today.

Currently, the Insurance Commissioner can fine insurance companies or professionals that violate the law but cannot order them to pay restitution to the people they’ve victimized.  

“The Office of the Insurance Commissioner is a quasi-legal and quasi-judiciary agency with our own administrative law judge and law enforcement…