The Montana Legislature has permitted a brand new measure requiring insurance coverage corporations working within the state to reveal detailed wildfire threat rating info when used to underwrite or fee residential property.
Home Invoice 533, handed by the 69th Legislature and now enrolled, mandates that admitted insurers present particular info to owners, candidates, or their insurance coverage producers upon request. The statute is geared toward rising transparency round how wildfire threat assessments are factored into choices on property insurance coverage protection.
Beneath the brand new legislation, insurers should share 5 key items of data: the present wildfire threat rating assigned to the property, the complete vary of attainable scores beneath the mannequin used, the identify of the person or group that generated the rating, the date on which the rating was produced, and the foremost components that negatively influenced the property’s threat rating.
Insurers are required to supply the data in writing inside 30 days of receiving a proper request.
The legislation defines a “wildfire threat rating” as any numerical worth, score, or categorization derived from statistical modeling or related processes used to judge the potential for wildfire-related insurance coverage losses. The regulation applies solely to admitted insurers and excludes nonadmitted corporations.
The brand new disclosure requirement shall be codified beneath Title 33, Chapter 16, of the Montana Code Annotated, which governs insurance coverage practices within the state.
The measure was launched by Consultant C. Schomer and authorized by each the Home and Senate. Proponents of the legislation argue that it offers shoppers with crucial perception into the components influencing their insurance coverage eligibility and pricing, significantly in fire-prone areas.
The transfer locations Montana amongst a rising variety of states scrutinizing the usage of threat modeling in insurance coverage choices, particularly as wildfires proceed to threaten residential communities throughout the western United States.
