No. SB 832
Filed under Insurance.
Residential Property Insurance; Requiring that certain rate filings with the Office of Insurance Regulation from residential property insurers include rate transparency reports; requiring the office to establish and maintain a comprehensive resource center on its website; specifying that certain information is not a trade secret and is not subject to certain public records exemptions; prohibiting an insurer from including the value of certain land when establishing a coverage amount or adjusting certain claims, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDStarting October 1, 2026, every residential property rate filing must come with a rate transparency report breaking the rate into percentages for reinsurance cost, claims cost, defense costs, fees, and profit, adding up to 100 percent.
Insurers must hand consumers their own copy of this report with every coverage offer and at renewal, along with disclosure of adverse findings history, affiliate use, and any change in total insured value.
The Office of Insurance Regulation must also build a separate public resource center website, and rate filings must disclose what percentage of premium goes to an insurer's own affiliated companies.
Homeowner coverage amounts and claim payouts can no longer factor in the value of the land under a home, including waterfront, shoreline, and eroded land.
AIBeginning October 1, 2026, every rate filing requesting a residential property rate change must include a rate transparency report, subject to the office's acceptance or required modification, in a uniform format the commission prescribes.
AIAlong with every offer of coverage and at each renewal, the insurer must give the consumer a copy of the rate transparency report matching their own offered rate, so they can see it before deciding.
AISeparately from the transparency report, the rate filing itself must disclose whether the insurer uses affiliated companies for administrative, claims-handling, or other functions, and if so, the total percentage of premium paid to those affiliates the prior year.
AIThe Office of Insurance Regulation must build and maintain a detailed public website covering market trends, insurer contact and complaint information, coverage education, mitigation credits, and claims-process guidance, all in plain language for consumers.
AIWhen setting the coverage amount or adjusting a claim for a dwelling or other structure on a homeowner's policy, an insurer can no longer factor in the value of the land the structure sits on.
AIThe report must show the percentage of the rate driven by reinsurance cost, claims cost, defense and containment costs, fees and commissions, and insurer profit and contingency, with the listed percentages required to add up to 100 percent.
AIBeyond the percentage breakdown, the report must state any change in the policy's total insured value from the last period, along with the office's adverse findings against the insurer for the previous three years.
AIThe statewide average requested and approved rate change for a filing, and county rating examples used on the office's website, are declared not to be trade secrets and lose the public-records exemption that would otherwise shield them.