Insurance Chief's Sudden U-Turn: Will September Hearing Finally Give Oklahomans a Say?

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready just pulled off a dramatic about-face that’s left observers scratching their heads—and homeowners wondering if relief might actually be on the horizon.

Back in April, Mulready flatly rejected a request for a public hearing on whether Oklahoma’s homeowners insurance market is truly competitive. Six weeks later, in May, he announced he’d hold that exact hearing in September. The flip-flop is jarring enough on its own, but the timing and the politics lurking beneath the surface are what really matter here.

Here’s the context: Oklahoma homeowners have been getting crushed by skyrocketing insurance premiums for years. Reporting by Oklahoma Watch debunked the long-held excuse that hailstorms alone were to blame—data showed Oklahoma actually gets less hail than Kansas and Texas but charges far higher rates. That’s not Mother Nature’s fault. It points to a market that isn’t working the way it should. The problem is, under current Oklahoma law, the Insurance Commissioner has been largely powerless to challenge those rates unless he first declares the market non-competitive. And declaring a market non-competitive requires a hearing. A hearing Mulready had resisted calling—until suddenly he wasn’t.

What changed? Lawmakers did. In May, House Bill 3781, authored by Rep. Stacy Jo Adams, R-Duncan, sailed through both chambers with bipartisan support and landed on Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk. The law shifted Oklahoma from a use-and-file system—where insurers could jack up rates without any real scrutiny—to a file-and-use system that requires the Insurance Department to actually examine rate increases within 30 days. It also struck language that made it impossible to challenge excessive rates in the first place.

But here’s where it gets frustrating: the new law won’t take effect until July 1, 2027. And while it’s a step forward, consumer advocate J. Robert Hunter, who testified before Oklahoma lawmakers, flagged serious obstacles. The 30-day window for reviewing rate increases is dangerously tight. Worse, Oklahoma’s Insurance Department doesn’t even employ a team of actuaries—the insurance accountants who’d be needed to actually analyze whether those rate hikes are justified.“You’d need a pretty aggressive commissioner to go after it,”Hunter said.

Which brings us back to Mulready’s September hearing. If it happens, and if homeowners are allowed to speak, it could be the only chance Oklahomans get to air their grievances directly to Mulready before he leaves office at the end of his eight-year tenure. But here’s the kicker: Mulready has already stated publicly that he believes the market is competitive. So he’s calling a hearing while essentially declaring the outcome in advance.“Calling a hearing in which he declares the result in advance? Love it,”Hunter said, with audible sarcasm.

The real question isn’t whether Mulready will hold the hearing. It’s whether he’ll actually listen—and whether the next commissioner will have the stomach to use the tools that lawmakers just handed them to fight for Oklahoma families.