RHODE ISLAND ADOPTS FLEX RATING:

Rhode Island lawmakers recently passed a bill to relax regulation of personal lines insurance rates—flex-rating measure allowing insurers to increase or decrease rates by no more than 5 percent within a one-year period without prior approval of the state. The measure (HB 8042) took effect immediately. Rate changes higher or lower than 5 percent would still be subject to prior state approval by the Department of Business Regulation. State Representative Brian Patrick Kennedy, chairman of the House Corporations Committee, sponsored the bill. Kennedy is also chairman of the executive committee for the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), whose flex-rating model served as the basis for the Rhode Island measure. “While this bill does not go as far as the NCOIL model, which calls for a flexible range of up to 14 percent for rate filings, it is, nonetheless, a significant first step for Rhode Island,” noted Frank O’Brien, vice president and New England regional manager for the Property Casualty Insurers of America (PCI).