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Media contact: Public Affairs, (360) 725-7055
August 29, 2022
OLYMPIA, Wash. ? Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and American Property Casualty Insurance Association have?agreed to a final order? in response to the recent Thurston County Superior Court ruling on Kreidler?s credit scoring rule. Kreidler will not appeal the court?s decision.?
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Indu Thomas had?previously issued an oral ruling? stating that Kreidler?s office did not violate the Administrative Procedure Act and that the commissioner?s actions were not arbitrary and capricious as the proponents argued. However, she did find that Kreidler exceeded his authority in adopting the rule to temporarily ban credit scoring when there was a specific state statute that allowed insurers to use credit scoring.?
Her oral ruling included support for the intent of the rule and the consumer protections it provided, declaring, ?the record reflects and the court does not question whether that rule protects Washington residents who are entitled to be free of improper discrimination in how their insurance rates are set. ?It is well established that there is an undeniable link between race and poverty, and any policy that discriminates based on credit worthiness correspondingly results in a disparate impact on communities of color. The temporary rule does in fact protect from such discrimination.?
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