Amy Walen — The speaker addresses the chair as Chair Walen.
Amy Walen — The speaker addresses the chair as Chair Walen.
Amy Walen — The speaker addresses the chair as Madam Chair.
Amy Walen — The speaker thanks Chair Amy Walen for her introduction and refers to her remarks as the basis for the discussion.
Amy Walen — Addressed as Madam Chair.
David Ford — David Ford is introduced as a Senior Policy Advisor from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, then identifies himself and explains that he serves as the Senior Policy Advisor for Property and Casualty as he begins his presentation.
Lauren Burns — Lauren Burns is introduced as a Senior Property and Casualty Policy Analyst from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner and then takes over the presentation to provide more detailed information, including an overview of earthquake policy data and the Washington market.
Jeff Branaugh — Jeff Branaugh is invited to present to the committee and then immediately begins his testimony when the chair calls on him and checks whether he can be heard.
J.P. Schmidt — J.P. Schmidt is introduced to the committee as a forthcoming presenter and identified as the CEO of Barris Global and former Hawaii State Insurance Commissioner.
Brendan — Brendan is introduced as helping with the presentation, then is involved in troubleshooting the screen share and advancing the slides during the presentation.
Brandon — Addressed during troubleshooting of the screen share.
Mr. Brana — Described as a chartered property casualty underwriter, chartered financial consultant, chartered life underwriter, certified insurance counselor, and managing partner of BCE Consulting.
Mr. Brana — Addressed as part of the discussion on insurance-market incentives and mitigation.
Mr. Braun / Mr. Brana — Introduces the presentation on catastrophic earthquake exposure for commercial buildings and thanks David and Lauren for explaining available earthquake coverages.
David — Thanked for explaining earthquake coverages available in Washington State.
David — Thanked for help with the commercial earthquake figures and asked to correct the total if needed.
Lauren — Thanked for explaining earthquake coverages available in Washington State.
J.P. — States his background as Hawaii State Insurance Commissioner and asks to move on to the next slide.
David and Lauren — Their statistics on where earthquake coverage is being purchased are referenced.
Lorne — Thanked for help with the commercial earthquake figures.
Chris Goldfinger — Identified as heading a Geological Society research paper on potential earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest and Cascadia subduction zone.
David Hackney — David Hackney was referenced in a discussion about alternative risk solutions, including parametric insurance, and the broader need to prepare for upcoming risks or challenges.
Kristine Reeves — Asked how addressing the insurance and property-risk issues would actually protect consumers in the insurance market.
Kristine Reeves — Asked whether insurers or financial institutions offer incentives such as premium discounts or grants for mitigation and retrofits.
Kristine Reeves — Her earlier question is referenced as the speaker explains the consumer impact of bank losses.
Kristine Reeves — Representative Kristine Reeves questions whether the increase in CUD diagnoses is a real rise in prevalence or simply an artifact of broader market access and improved tracking/diagnosis practices. She asks whether the model accounts for increased access to the product, changes in how CUD is tracked over time, and whether the reported increase reflects actual overutilization versus more people being diagnosed because the condition is now being monitored in a regulated market.
Kristine Reeves — Representative Kristine Reeves is invited to ask her question and then raises methodological concerns about the presenter’s data, asking whether the analysis accounts for cultural perceptions and community differences in cannabis use, and whether the sample can be broken out by recreational/adult-use versus medical markets as well as by demographic characteristics of participants.
Jeff — Referenced as having discussed the issue earlier.
Jeff — Referenced as willing to work with the Office of Insurance on possible remedies.
Mr. Schmidt — Addressed as part of the discussion on insurance-market incentives and mitigation.
Mr. Schmidt — A departing thank-you list included Mr. Schmidt among the presenters or witnesses.
Megan Mulvill — Staff member thanked for advice.
Megan Mannigan — Megan Mannigan, representing the Washington Bankers Association, introduces herself and explains that earthquake insurance is costly and often comes with high deductibles, making affordability a major concern. She notes that adding mortgage-related insurance requirements can increase homeownership costs and monthly payments for both residential and small business borrowers. She then discusses consumer education efforts, including materials hosted on the OIC website and outreach aimed at improving public understanding of earthquake coverage, and says these efforts are timely. Finally, she describes bankers’ participation in a FEMA public-private earthquake planning exercise, explaining that banks worked through disaster recovery planning issues such as cash movement, electricity, and consumer protection, and notes that FEMA resources remain available.
Megan Mannigan — Megan from the bankers was thanked as the committee transitioned to the next agenda item.
Shelley Kloba — Rep. Shelley Kloba asks about consumer education and responsibility for informing people about earthquake insurance, then broadens the discussion to consumer financial preparedness amid uncertainty about FEMA. She thanks the witness, references House Bill 1810 as a prior effort related to unreinforced masonry risk, and asks whether the current bill would help reduce risk and protect consumers, insurers, and banks. The exchange ends with a brief correction of her name pronunciation.
Shelley Kloba — Representative Shelley Kloba questioned the methodology behind the analysis, first asking whether the retail-store saturation findings accounted for other confounding factors such as traffic, urban driving conditions, and store-location effects. She then shifted to a related evidentiary question about THC-positive results, asking whether they actually correlate with impairment at the time of a crash or could simply reflect prior use rather than current impairment.
Shelley Kloba — Representative Kloba is called on after Representative Reeves's question.
HB1810 — House Bill 1810 is referenced as a prior bill that addressed the risk posed by unreinforced masonry buildings, including concerns about the lack of a full inventory of such buildings.
Megan Mannigan, Washington Bankers Association — The speaker referenced Megan Mannigan and the Washington Bankers Association for their work on resiliency, noting that they are doing a study in that area. The discussion then continued with a clarification question to Megan about whether the resiliency efforts apply only to bank-owned properties or also to collateralized properties.
Brandy Donaghy — Rep. Brandy Donaghy identified the bill as hers and asked whether banks and insurers have adequate inventories of commercial properties they insure or own. She then followed up by asking whether there is a way to coordinate a solid statewide inventory of unreinforced masonry and other structurally vulnerable properties that could pose earthquake-related risks.
Sharon Tomiko Santos — Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos observed that the state’s geologic risk assessments for schools have been funded in a piecemeal way and suggested there is an opportunity for the state and other governments to conduct broader risk assessments for public buildings. She also raised the question of whether nearby buildings could be evaluated using similar assumptions about geologic risk and the underlying conditions.
Chris Goldsmith, University of Washington — Chris Goldsmith was suggested as a possible expert resource on marine geology and soil composition contributions to risk.
Mr. Fort — A departing thank-you list included Mr. Fort among the presenters or witnesses.
Ms. Burns — A departing thank-you list included Ms. Burns among the presenters or witnesses.
Mr. Brunham — A departing thank-you list included Mr. Brunham among the presenters or witnesses.
Amani Rashid — Amani Rashid was introduced as a WSIPP presenter.
Amani Rashid — Eva Westley turns the presentation over to Amani Rashid, who introduces herself as a senior research associate at WSIPP and says she has been there for about five years. She explains that since 2022 she has led the long-term evaluation of Initiative 502.
Eva Wesley — Eva Wesley was introduced as WSIPP's Associate Director for Research.
Amani Rashid and Eva Wesley — The committee was asking WSIPP presenters for background on their work and how it operates.
Eva Westley — Introduced herself as Associate Director for Research at WSIPP and said she would present with Dr. Amani Rashid.