The initial meeting of the NAIC’s Special Committee on Race and Insurance on Sept. 17 established the committee’s five work streams and the co-chairs of each group. They include: Research/analyze level of diversity and inclusion within and access to the insurance industry and insurance products, chaired by Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Hodgen Mainda; research/analyze level of diversity and inclusion within the NAIC and state insurance regulator community, co-chaired by Kentucky Insurance Commissioner Sharon Clark and Illinois Insurance.

Director Robert Muriel; examine and determine which practices or barriers exist in the insurance sector that potentially disadvantage people of color and/or historically under-represented groups in the following lines of business: property and casualty, co-chaired by Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt and Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Andrew Mais, life insurance and annuities, co-chaired by New Jersey Insurance Commissioner Marlene Caride and Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Mark Afable, and health, co-chaired by Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman and California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.

In its just released 2019 Insurance Department Resources Report, the NAIC ranks the Texas Department of Insurance as the first in the top five departments based on staffing level, followed by California, Florida, New York and North Carolina. The report says TDI averaged 1,449 employees in 2019, down from 1,526 in 2015. Included in the TDI staff are 13 deputy commissioners and 61.5 lawyers. Salaries ranged from $83,991 to $228,775 for deputy or assistant commissioners and from $48,278 to $156,256 for lawyers. The department’s 2021 budget ranks it third among all states. TDI’s 2021 budget is $120.38 million, or 1.92 percent more than it was in 2017, but less than the budget of 2018, 2019 and 2020. Texas collected $2.45 billion in insurance taxes in 2019. The report indicates that TDI assessed 36,546 fines against producers, for a total of $18.06 million, and ordered restitution three times. TDI led all states in both the number of producers fined and total fines, which all states together was 41,957 fines totaling $30.31 million. The report is available on the NAIC website.