Alternative policies include ignoring the shift in federal privacy law, but that would lead to market participant confusion and conflict between Wisconsin Insurance regulations and federal privacy law.
4. Detailed explanation of statutory authority for the rule (including the statutory citation and language):
The Commissioner has the general authority to promulgate rules necessary to administer and enforce chs. 600 to 655, Wis. Stat., and as provided under ss. 227.11 (2) (a) and 601.41, Wis. Stat. Further, Ins. 25 is promulgated pursuant to the authority granted by ss. 601.41(3) ((a) “ The commissioner shall have rule-making authority under s. 227.11 (2).”), 610.70, 628.34 (12), and 633.17 (“The commissioner shall promulgate rules necessary for the implementation of this chapter, in addition to the rules permitted under s. 633.13 (2) and required under ss. 633.14 (3) and 633.15 (1) (b).”), Wis. Stats. See Ins 25.01 Wis. Adm. Code, “Authority” (“This chapter is promulgated pursuant to the authority granted by ss. 601.41 (3), 610.70, 628.34 (12), and 633.17, Stats.”). 5. Estimate of amount of time that state employees will spend developing the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule:
60 hours and no other resources are necessary to develop this rule.
6. List with description of all entities that may be affected by the proposed rule:
The proposed rule will affect insurance intermediaries, intermediary firms, insurance companies, surplus lines agents, life settlement brokers, reinsurance intermediaries, firms and managers, and individual navigators and navigator entities.
7. Summary and preliminary comparison with any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the proposed rule:
In December of 2015, President Obama signed into law the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) which amended Section 503, 12 U.S.C. § 6803, of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) privacy notice requirements by adding section 503(f). Section 503(f) reads:
(f) Exception to annual notice requirement A financial institution that—
(1) provides nonpublic personal information only in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b)(2) or (e) of section 6802 of this title or regulations prescribed under section 6804(b) of this title, and
(2) has not changed its policies and practices with regard to disclosing nonpublic personal information from the policies and practices that were disclosed in the most recent disclosure sent to consumers in accordance with this section, shall not be required to provide an annual disclosure under this section until such time as the financial institution fails to comply with any criteria described in paragraph (1) or (2).
The proposed change to Ins 25.13 Wis. Admin. Code would mirror this language.
8. Anticipated economic impact of implementing the rule (note if the rule is likely to have a significant economic impact on small businesses):
This proposed rule will have a moderately positive economic impact as it will eliminate the need for financial institutions to send their customers redundant privacy notices. Therefore, the revision in the proposed rule is simply to make s. Ins 25.13, Wis. Adm. Code, consistent with current federal privacy laws and regulations.
