The office licenses insurers operating in the state, examines their financial and business practices, investigates consumer complaints, ensures compliance with state laws and regulations, and provides information on the insurance industry to the public.

The original law vested insurance regulation as a power of the Secretary of State of Wisconsin.

These powers were transferred to a separate commissioner of insurance by an act of the Wisconsin Legislature in 1878 (1878 Wisc.

The office was initially designed as a gubernatorial appointee, and the first insurance commissioner, Philip L. Spooner, Jr., was appointed by Governor William E. Smith.

[4] Separate from the ordinary organizational structure of the Office, there are a number of commissions and boards created by acts of the Wisconsin Legislature to oversee, advise, or administer certain funds.