Thumbs up to Kreidler’s credit score ban, a housing action plan, and mask freedom
Thumbs Up: Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler
Mike Kreidler, our six-term Insurance Commissioner, recently won a court case that allows him to ban insurers from using credit scores as a factor in determining rates for car and property insurance. Kreidler notes that credit scores do not predict how safely people drive or how well they care for their property.
“Many leaders in the insurance industry have recently pledged to eliminate inequity,” Kreidler said at the time of his proposal. “My proposal is an opportunity to convert these pledges into action.”
According to the Insurance Journal, “. . . companies reported that at least 1.3 million policyholders should expect rate changes – some will see decreases of up to 60%. The new rating plans must be revenue-neutral, meaning insurers cannot attempt to increase their profits using the lack of credit scores as an excuse, according to Kreidler’s office.”
A bill to require this change died in the state Senate this spring, so Kreidler issued an emergency rule based on the pandemic’s likely effect on credit scores. Insurers challenged the rule in court, but were rebuffed.
We applaud Kreidler’s victory on this issue. We also appreciate his long record of effective consumer protection, and his even longer record of stellar public service.
Thumbs up: Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater collaborate on housing plan
We are glad to see that Lacey, Tumwater and Olympia have collaborated to create a shared template that each city council can adapt to plan for the next 25 years of its housing needs. The big-picture goals are to increase the supply of truly affordable housing, to expand housing supply and variety, and to provide more housing for seniors, who will make up 25 percent of the population in 25 years.
The plan is explicit in its acknowledgment of past redlining and racial discrimination, and of the need to create more stable, affordable housing to promote racial justice.
In this arena, as in so many others, whatever is done to advance the interests of people of color also will help low-income white people.
The limitation of this smart, ambitious government plan is that nearly all housing is a private-sector enterprise. Communities can offer incentives to build affordable housing, but mostly we can only hope that housing developers, their suppliers and their bankers will see that building more affordable housing is the right thing to do.
The limitation of a collaborative planning process is that each of the three city councils must now grapple with a list of 45 recommended actions and choose which to pursue.
Nonetheless, we are glad to see this thorough, thoughtful and engaging plan and hope local citizens will weigh in as it proceeds to their city councils for action in the coming months. Real progress on housing will take strong, persistent public pressure in all three cities.
And more thumbs up: To mask or not to mask
We are delighted to be confused about whether and when to wear a mask. Though some may complain about the sudden change in advice and the patchwork system of mask mandates or lack of them, we are too busy celebrating to complain. We are celebrating our survival, our community pride in the growing number of us who are fully vaccinated, the coming of summer and outdoor social safety, and the welcome return of bare-naked smiling faces.
We like the new openness about asking what our friends and colleagues are comfortable with. Some like hugs, indoor dining and handshaking; others don’t. It’s a pleasure to have choices, to be at ease about asking questions, and to be developing a new, almost-post-pandemic etiquette.
Vaccinated or not, we are all still in this together, finding our way forward, and doing what we can to maintain the trajectory of reducing those case counts every blessed week.