Texas Commissioner to Retire, New Commissioner Named

Texas Insurance Commissioner Cassie Brown has announced that she will retire on February 2, 2026. Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Amanda Crawford as the new commissioner, for a term set to expire on February 1, 2027. Crawford is the Executive Director of the Texas Department of Information Resources and the state’s Chief Information Officer. She previously served as Deputy Attorney General for Administration and General Counsel at the Texas Office of the Attorney General.

  Staff Contact - Sean McKenna

Federal Updates

On January 7, 2026, the House Education & Workforce Committee held a hearing entitled Modernizing Retirement Policy for Today’s Workforce. The hearing focused on opportunities to expand options for workers when planning their retirements. Lawmakers spoke about the Department of Labor’s safe harbor framework and the legislative successes around the Secure Act and the Secure Act 2.0 as examples of the bipartisan nature of this issue and the progress made to date.

The discussion included lifetime income options within 401(k) plans and the potential opportunity they provide. Democrats and Dr. Rhee, Director of the Retirement Security Program at UC Berkely, stressed the need for regulatory oversight and clear guidance so that consumers understand the products and to ensure these products were achievable for all workers. Other industry experts addressed the additional legislative action needed to advance the option of lifetime income plans.

  Staff Contact - Sean McKenna

FSB Updates

In November 2025, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) issued a consultation on the Scope of Insurers Subject to the Recovery and Resolution Planning (RRP) Requirements set out in the FSB Key Attributes, with comments due February 6. Under the Key Attributes, insurers that could be systemically significant or critical upon failure, or whose failure could pose a threat to financial stability, are expected to be subject to RRP requirements. The consultation proposes draft guidance to assist supervisory and resolution authorities in identifying insurers that meet this standard, drawing on International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) 12 and 16 and related IAIS materials.

The draft guidance identifies criteria for assessing whether an insurer should be subject to RRP requirements. While the FSB acknowledges that certain information may be relevant to multiple criteria, it emphasizes that each criterion should be assessed independently, using at least one piece of distinct, criterion-specific information.

• Nature: Refers to an insurer’s inherent business characteristics and is intended to identify risks arising from its activities. Illustrative factors include lines of business, business model features, use of derivatives, leverage, and balance sheet structure.
  
• Scale: Refers to the size of an insurer, typically measured by total assets, liabilities, gross written premium, total income, or number of policyholders. The FSB notes that scale is commonly used by its members, in addition to considering whether an insurer is an internationally active insurance group (IAIG).
  
• Complexity: Refers to legal, financial, structural, or cross-border intricacies that could complicate resolution. Indicators may include group structure, use of complex financial instruments, exposure to illiquid assets, and shareholder structure.
  
• Substitutability: Refers to the extent to which an insurer’s activities, products, or services could be replaced by other market participants within a reasonable timeframe and at a reasonable cost. This criterion is particularly relevant where the insurer provides a critical function. Supervisors may consider factors such as portfolio size and complexity, market concentration, and the insurer’s role in providing guarantees.
  
• Cross-Border Activities: Refers to the geographic scope of an insurer’s operations. The guidance notes that, in the event of distress or failure, the involvement of multiple supervisory, regulatory, or resolution regimes may complicate information sharing and the movement of capital or funding. Relevant indicators include the presence of foreign branches/subsidiaries, revenues generated outside the home jurisdiction, cross-border intra-group exposures, and reliance on foreign reinsurance markets.
  
• Interconnectedness: Refers to the degree to which an insurer is linked to other financial institutions or the broader financial system and the potential for financial distress to be transmitted to other entities. The draft guidance highlights the systemic risk implications of high interconnectedness and cites the approach used by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) in assessing whether an insurer poses a threat to U.S. financial stability as an example. Other indicators include reinsurance exposure, concentration in counterparty exposures, cross-ownership with other financial institutions, and reliance on short-term funding.

The draft guidance makes clear that the application of the above criteria is not determinative in all cases. Regardless of the outcome of the multi-factor assessment, an insurer must be subject to RRP requirements if either (1) it provides a critical function, or (2) its failure is likely to have a significant impact on the financial system or real economy of the jurisdiction. In effect, these two factors operate as a mandatory override, triggering RRP requirements regardless of how the insurer may be assessed under the nature, scale, complexity, substitutability, cross-border activity, or interconnectedness criteria.

In this context, the draft guidance introduces a modified definition of “critical function,” which the FSB proposes to incorporate into its existing materials if finalized. Under the proposed definition, a critical function is one that (1) is provided by the insurer to third parties outside the insurer’s group; (2) would, if suddenly disrupted, be likely to have a material impact on the financial system and/or the real economy; and (3) cannot be substituted within a reasonable period of time and at a reasonable cost.

Privacy Updates

New regulations under the California Privacy Protection Act went into effect on January 1, 2026. The regulations include requirements related to automated decision-making technology, risk assessments, cybersecurity audits, consumer opt-outs, and consumer data requests.

CalPrivacy announced two new data broker enforcement actions. Under the first action, Rickenbacher Data LLC, dba Datamasters, a Texas-based reseller of personal information for targeted advertising, is ordered to pay a $45,000 fine for failing to register as a data broker in violation of California’s Delete Act. The decision also orders the company to stop selling all Californians’ personal information.

Under the second action, S&P Global, Inc., is ordered to pay a $62,600 fine for failing to register as a data broker due to an administrative error. The company is also required to adopt procedures for registration and compliance auditing to prevent similar future errors.

  Staff Contact - Sean McKenna

California GA Seeks Outside Legal Counsel

The California Life & Health Insurance Guarantee Association (CLHIGA) is seeking an experienced California-barred attorney or firm to serve as outside counsel. The ideal candidate will have expertise in insurance regulation, insurer insolvencies (rehabilitations and liquidations), and guaranty association operations.

Interested parties should contact CLHIGA Executive Director Todd Thakar at [email protected] for the Outside Legal Counsel RFP package.

  Staff Contact - Sean McKenna