At its first 2025 meeting the Senate Corporations Committee voted unanimously to advance Senate File 50, legislation that would add a group capital calculation and a liquidity stress test to Wyoming's oversight of insurance holding companies and tighten confidentiality protections for related filings.

The bill, presented by Commissioner Jeff Root of the Wyoming Department of Insurance, would require qualifying insurance groups to submit a group capital calculation and a NAIC-based liquidity stress test for specified filing years, while also carving out exemptions when equivalent data is available from other regulators, such as the Federal Reserve or an overseas group-wide supervisor.

The change is intended to give state regulators a broader view of the financial health of insurance groups that include non-insurance affiliates, Commissioner Jeff Root said. "We want to be sure that they have sufficient assets to pay claims," Root said. He described the group capital calculation as a way to look at capital across an affiliated set of companies, and the liquidity stress test as a modeled scenario showing how much liquidity a firm would have if claims increased significantly.

Committee members were repeatedly told the measures reflect NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) accreditation standards adopted by other states. "We pass these accreditation standards," Root said, adding that uniform standards let other states rely on one another's examination work and reduce duplicate exams.

The bill includes multiple confidentiality provisions. Filings and test results would be confidential and the lead state commissioner would be the only state entity permitted to maintain the analysis; the legislation explicitly prohibits the NAIC and third-party consultants from keeping a permanent database of the results. The bill also requires written confidentiality agreements for any third-party consultants who assist a state insurance department and directs the department to disclose the identity of any designated consultant to the insurer being examined.

Senators on the committee questioned how lead-state responsibilities would be assigned when several states have oversight and whether international ownership could leave Wyoming policyholders exposed. "In Europe, historically, they've always looked at a bigger picture... We're sort of blending the two a little bit together," Root said, asserting the approach protects consumers because regulators will see group-level exposures. Several senators also noted that when an insurer is part of a holding company owned by a bank or other financial institution, the Federal Reserve may already hold the relevant data and states can obtain it there.

The bill contains scope criteria that determine which groups must file in a given year; companies that do not meet those criteria are not required to file for that year. The lead state commissioner also would have discretion to exempt specific reporting requirements if not needed for supervisory purposes, and any change in scope would generally take effect at the next annual filing date (March).

Industry representatives in the room — Mary Ann Shaner for State Farm and Catherine Wilkinson for the American Property Casualty Insurers Association — indicated support for the bill's accreditation aims and said they had worked with the department on the language. The bill's sponsors and the Department of Insurance emphasized that much of the language was negotiated with insurers, consumer groups and other states to reach language acceptable across jurisdictions.

Votes at the committee level were recorded by roll call. Senator Landon moved the bill; Senators Bonar, Dockstader, Landon, Steinmetz and Chairman Case all voted "Aye." The committee chair indicated Senator Landon will carry the bill on the Senate floor and estimated it could be considered as early as the next day.

The bill is written to become effective July 1, and it includes an authorization for necessary rulemaking. Committees and regulators will continue to refine scope thresholds, Root said, noting this is a relatively new exercise for many states and the annual templates and instructions (the NAIC liquidity stress test framework) may be adjusted in future years.