States have moved to develop their own laws given there is a lack of federal regulation of notice requirements to consumers in the event of cyber breaches. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic comparison of the existing regulations with respect to data breaches involving personally identifiable information across the states. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Insurance Data Security Model Law is also examined.

The Academy has released a new Essential Elements paper: “Wildfire Risk in the United States.” The paper discusses where and when wildfires occur, the rising property/casualty costs from wildfire damage, the importance of wildfire modeling, and ways to address wildfire risk. Essential Elements, a series of concise and informative papers developed by the Academy, is designed to provide a quick and easy-to-understand overview of key public policy issues of interest to Academy members, policymakers, and the general public.

The Extreme Events and Property Lines Committee has updated its monograph on the National Flood Insurance Program and related issues, including new data from the 2019 hurricane season. 

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting has issued a new public policy paper, An Overview for P/C Insurers' Audit Committees: Effective Use of Actuarial Loss Reserve Expertise. This document replaces an earlier publication on the same subject. 

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting has submitted comments to the NAIC's Actuarial Opinion Working Group, suggesting changes to the wording in the Financial Examiners Handbook.

The Academy's senior casualty fellow Rich Gibson submitted comments on the latest draft of the NAIC's proposed white paper on Regulatory Review of Predictive Models.

The Workers' Compensation Committee released an issue brief discussing the recent actions of state governments, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to expand their presumption laws to include additional diseases/injuries experienced during employment, but also to whom the presumptions apply.

The Casualty Practice Council commented on H.R. 7011, a proposal to facilitate expansion of Business Interruption insurance to include future pandemic events.

The Workers’ Compensation Committee released an issue brief, Presumptive Benefits in Workers’ Compensation: Emerging Issues Before and After COVID-19, which covers what workers’ compensation presumption of benefits means, how laws vary by state, what occupations are covered by presumptions, what injuries or diseases are classified as presumptive, who is eligible, how claims can be rebuttable by the employers, what are the cost elements of workers’ compensation presumptions, and other cost considerations.

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting has issued a set of questions and answers regarding the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on P/C financial reporting.(Note: This document has been superceded by a second edition, published in January 2021.)

The Cyber Risk Task Force sent comments to the Government Accountability Office regarding cyber-attacks and the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

Academy Senior Casualty Fellow Rich Gibson remotely presented an overview and updates on the Actuaries Climate Index and the Actuaries Climate Risk Index at the Casualty Actuarial Society’s Virtual Spring Meeting.

The Casualty Practice Council sent a comment letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on a proposed Pandemic Risk Reinsurance Program. Read the Academy news release.

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting submitted comments to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Blanks Working Group, regarding proposed instructions for the 2020 P&C Statement of Actuarial Opinion.

On May 11, 2020, Steve Jackson, the Academy’s Assistant Director for Research, presented on the Actuaries Climate Risk Index (ACRI) to the Actuarial Colloquium, a virtual conference sponsored by the International Actuarial Association and the French Institute of Actuaries. The ACRI is derived from a model of the statistical relationship between the weather components of the Actuaries Climate Index (ACI) and property damage caused by severe weather. The ACRI distinguishes the losses due to changes in weather from the larger set of losses due to increases in risk exposure. The resulting ACRI for the United States totals $24 billion during the post-reference period, 1991–2016, equal to approximately 5% of weather-related losses during that period.

The American Academy of Actuaries submitted a letter to members of the Blanks Working Group regarding their proposal on the certification of continuing education (“CE”) compliance by “Appointed Actuaries” who sign statements of actuarial opinion for property and casualty insurers.

The Committee on Property and Liability Financial Reporting submitted comments on the CAS/SOA proposed new form for P/C Appointed Actuaries to report their continuing education activities.

The Casualty Practice Council submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board regarding a proposed new ASOP on rate-filing by property/casualty insurers.

As part of its continuing public policy research program providing objective and independent information based on actuarial analysis, the American Academy of Actuaries today introduced the first model and results of the Actuaries Climate Risk Index (ACRI), which provides results associating dollar estimates of property losses in the United States with changes in extreme weather.

The Academy has long been the most reliable and credible source of objective, independent, and nonpartisan information about actuarial matters that can and do affect public policy decisions in the U.S. We are now releasing the ACRI to provide that objective and independent analysis to assist in answering the question: Are the extreme weather conditions that result from a changing climate producing increased property losses?

The findings contained in version 1.0 of the ACRI are the culmination of years of research. We are presenting them now in the spirit of objective, transparent scientific inquiry and statistical rigor. Read the report.

The Extreme Events and Property Lines Committee responded to the NAIC's Catastrophe Risk Subgroup's request for additional information about wildfires.