I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2141 
To require consultation with Congress, insurers, and consumers with respect 
to domestic insurance and international insurance standards, regulations, 
or frameworks, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 30, 2015 
Mr. DUFFY (for himself, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. GAR-
RETT, and Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To require consultation with Congress, insurers, and con-
sumers with respect to domestic insurance and inter-
national insurance standards, regulations, or frameworks, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Insur-
ance Standards Transparency and Policyholder Protection 
Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. CONSULTATION CONCERNING NEGOTIATIONS WITH 
RESPECT TO INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE 
REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The State-based system for insurance regu-
lation in the United States has served American con-
sumers well for more than 150 years. 
(2) Protecting policyholders by guaranteeing an 
insurer’s ability to pay claims has been the hallmark 
of the successful U.S. system and should be the 
paramount objective of domestic prudential regula-
tion and emerging international standards. 
(3) The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 
Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111–203) re-
affirmed the State-based insurance regulatory sys-
tem, while giving the Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System authority to regulate certain 
non-bank entities on a consolidated basis, including 
insurers that have been designated systemically im-
portant financial institutions or that include an in-
sured depository institution and are regulated by the 
States at the insurance entity level. 
(4) United States regulators participating in 
discussions or negotiations regarding international 
insurance regulatory frameworks should support 
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standards designed solely for the protection of pol-
icyholders. 
(5) The Federal Insurance Office should seek 
advice and recommendations from a diverse group of 
outside experts in performing the duties and au-
thorities of the Office to ensure policy holders are 
protected. 
(b) NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES FOR INTERNATIONAL 
INSURANCE REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS.—The negoti-
ating objectives of the United States regarding inter-
national insurance regulatory frameworks are as follows: 
(1) To seek standards, requirements, and rules 
focused solely on protection of policy holders, as re-
flected in the United States solvency regime. 
(2) To promote a principles-based approach to 
insurance supervision, in which capital adequacy is 
assessed using risk-based capital requirements com-
bined with qualitative risk assessment and manage-
ment tools on a legal entity basis, rather than a 
quantitative global capital standard for insurance 
groups. 
(3) To seek the most efficient and least disrup-
tive approaches to enhancing regulatory assessment 
of the capital adequacy of insurance groups, includ-
ing tools that are already in place, such as super-
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visory colleges, as well as the evaluation of the cap-
italization of an insurance group using the existing 
internal model of the group, where appropriate, 
which captures the risks associated with each unique 
line of business and geographic mix of the group. 
(4) To negotiate an international insurance reg-
ulatory framework that recognizes United States 
prudential measures as equivalent to foreign meas-
ures. 
(c) PROHIBITIONS AND FOCUS ON POLICY HOLDER 
PROTECTION.—With respect to negotiations related to any 
international insurance regulatory framework: 
(1) INAPPROPRIATE
BANK
CAPITAL
STAND-
ARDS.—United States representatives shall not agree 
to, accept, or establish, and shall use their voice and 
vote to oppose, any international standard that ap-
plies to— 
(A) insurers, capital standards, and rules 
designed for banks; or 
(B) any insurer that has not been des-
ignated a systemically important financial insti-
tution under United States law or a global sys-
temically important insurer by the Financial 
Stability Oversight Council, capital standards 
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and rules designed for systemically important 
bank or non-bank financial institutions. 
(2) FOCUS ON POLICYHOLDER PROTECTION.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—United States rep-
resentatives shall not agree to, accept, or estab-
lish, and shall use their voice and vote to op-
pose, any capital standard or rule applicable to 
United States insurance entities or groups un-
less that standard is designed solely to help en-
sure that sufficient funds are available to pay 
claims to an insurer’s policyholders in the event 
of the liquidation of that entity. 
(B) ENHANCED
CAPITAL
STANDARDS.— 
The limitation under subparagraph (A) does 
not apply to enhanced capital standards appli-
cable to insurance entities or groups designated 
under section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Wall 
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 
(12 U.S.C. 5323). 
(d) NOTICE AND CONSULTATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any inter-
national insurance regulatory framework, the Presi-
dent shall— 
(A) not less than 90 days before the 
United States intends to participate in or enter 
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into negotiations with respect to such a regu-
latory framework, provide to the covered con-
gressional committees written notice of the in-
tention of the United States to participate in or 
enter into such negotiations and an outline of 
the objectives of such negotiations, including 
whether and how such objectives achieve the ob-
jectives set forth in subsection (b) and are con-
sistent with the prohibitions under subsection 
(c) and with existing Federal and State laws or 
regulations or policy related to prudential regu-
lation of insurance; 
(B) during the negotiations of such a regu-
latory framework, including prior to significant 
decisions points in the negotiations and prior to 
development of interim drafts, and before 
agreeing to, accepting, or establishing such 
framework, consult with the covered congres-
sional committees and the Federal Advisory 
Committee on Insurance established under sec-
tion 313(f) of title 31, United States Code, in-
cluding with respect to whether and how such 
negotiations or any international insurance reg-
ulatory framework achieves the objectives set 
forth in subsection (b) and is consistent with 
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the prohibitions under subsection (c) and with 
existing Federal and State laws or regulations 
or policy related to prudential regulation of in-
surance; 
(C) in the course of negotiating such a reg-
ulatory framework, provide members and appro-
priate staff of the covered congressional com-
mittees access to pertinent documents relating 
to the negotiations of such framework; 
(D) not less than 60 days before the date 
on which the United States intends to agree to, 
accept, or establish such a framework, the 
President shall— 
(i) notify the covered congressional 
committees of the intention of the United 
States to agree to, accept, or establish 
such a framework by providing a descrip-
tion in enough detail for the covered con-
gressional committees to comment; 
(ii) notify the Federal Advisory Com-
mittee on Insurance of the intention of the 
United States to agree to, accept, or estab-
lish such framework by providing a de-
scription in enough detail for the members 
to comment; and 
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(iii) publish notice of such intention 
by providing a description in enough detail 
in the Federal Register to meet the re-
quirements for public consultation under 
subsection (h); and 
(E) not less than 15 days before the 
United States agrees to, accepts, or establishes 
such a regulatory framework, the President 
shall submit to the covered congressional com-
mittees and the Federal Advisory Committee on 
Insurance the final text of such framework and 
a description of how the proposed framework 
achieves the objectives set forth in subsection 
(b) and is consistent with the prohibitions 
under subsection (c), and how such proposed 
framework differs from existing Federal and 
State laws or regulations or policy related to 
prudential regulation of insurance. 
(2) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION TO MEM-
BERS
OF
CONGRESS.—The covered congressional 
committees shall make available to all Members of 
Congress the information required to be provided 
under paragraph (1)(A). 
(e) COORDINATION WITH THE NATIONAL ASSOCIA-
TION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS.—In developing ob-
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jectives pursuant to subsection (d)(1)(A) for an inter-
national insurance regulatory framework, and throughout 
the negotiations of such framework, the President shall 
closely consult and coordinate with the National Associa-
tion of Insurance Commissioners. 
(f) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE ASSESS-
MENTS.— 
(1) NOTICE AND SUBMISSION.—Not later than 
60 days before the date on which the United States 
intends to agree to, accept, or establish an inter-
national insurance regulatory framework, the Presi-
dent shall provide to the Comptroller General of the 
United States a description of such framework in 
enough detail to allow the Comptroller General to 
conduct the assessment required under paragraph 
(2). 
(2) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date on which President provides the infor-
mation described in paragraph (1) with respect to an 
international insurance agreement, the Comptroller 
General shall submit to the President and the cov-
ered congressional committees an assessment of the 
economic effects of such agreement on the United 
States insurance industry, consumers of insurance, 
and the United States economy. 
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(g) NEGOTIATIONS IN PROGRESS ON DATE OF EN-
ACTMENT.— 
(1) NOTICE.—Not later than 15 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the President 
shall provide to the covered congressional commit-
tees and the Federal Advisory Committee on Insur-
ance the written notice described in subsection 
(d)(1) with respect to negotiations relating to an 
international insurance regulatory framework that 
were in progress on such date. 
(2) GOVERNMENT
ACCOUNTABILITY
ASSESS-
MENT.— 
(A) NOTICE AND SUBMISSION.—Not later 
than 60 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the President shall provide to the 
Comptroller General of the United States a de-
scription of each international insurance regu-
latory framework for which negotiations were in 
progress on such date in enough detail to allow 
the Comptroller General to conduct the assess-
ment required under subparagraph (B). 
(B) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date on which the President provides 
the information described in subparagraph (A) 
with respect to an international insurance regu-
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