This bill creates a new, temporary statutory section that requires the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) to study insurers' use of credit history, credit-based insurance scoring models, and other rating factors that may have disparate impacts on Washington residents, and to evaluate alternative rate factors. The OIC must collect information from entities transacting "personal insurance" (as referenced to the definition in RCW 48.19.035) and identified authorized insurers are required to provide requested information. The OIC may contract with actuaries and other consultants to analyze disparate impacts across race, ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, and national origin; to identify alternative factors that do not rely on credit history or have disparate impacts; to estimate likely effects on consumer costs, premiums, eligibility, and availability of coverage; and to develop policy options for the legislature. The bill makes the data provided for the study confidential and privileged and not subject to public disclosure under chapter 42.56 RCW, but allows publication of aggregate data as an open record. It requires a preliminary report to relevant legislative policy committees by December 31, 2025, and a final report with findings, policy options, and recommendations by September 15, 2026, consistent with RCW 43.01.036. The new section expires December 31, 2033, and the change does not alter the OIC’s existing authority under chapter 48.37 RCW. The text does not include the actual definition of "personal insurance," the new section’s RCW number or placement, the specific legislative committees to receive the reports, or any appropriation or funding source for contracting.

If enacted, the state insurance regulator (OIC) will run a funded investigative study into how insurers use credit history and similar factors to set personal insurance prices and who is most affected. Insurers that sell personal lines will be required to provide data and the OIC can hire actuaries or other consultants to analyze disparities across race, ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, and national origin; the agency must deliver a preliminary report by December 31, 2025, a final report with policy options by September 15, 2026, and the study authority sunsets December 31, 2033. Data submitted for the study will be treated as confidential to the extent allowed, though aggregated results can be published. Practically, insurers should expect direct compliance costs and staff time to gather and submit requested information, and the OIC will incur costs to run the study and to contract experts (the bill text does not specify a funding source). The study’s findings and options could lead lawmakers to restrict or change how credit-based scoring and similar rating factors are used, which could in turn change future insurer pricing practices and consumer access to coverage; key details such as exactly which kinds of insurance are covered and how the study will be funded are not specified in the extracted text.