On Thursday, March 20, the Colorado House of Representatives approved a bill designed to help residents save money on their property insurance. The legislation, HB25-1182, focuses on transparency in the use of wildfire mitigation risk models by insurance companies and how these models impact individual insurance policies.
The bill, sponsored by Representatives Brianna Titone and Kyle Brown, passed with a vote of 45-18. The aim is to give property owners more control by ensuring they understand how their insurers assess wildfire risk.
Representative Titone, a Democrat from Arvada, stated, “When Coloradans are properly informed about fire mitigation, they can be more strategic about the steps they take to protect their property from fire damage and correct any errors in their insurers’ records.” She further explained that the bill addresses concerns about the lack of transparency in how insurance companies use wildfire risk scores to determine coverage and pricing. “This bill promotes transparency and accountability in property insurance so Coloradans can take effective mitigation efforts that help bring down their insurance costs.”
Representative Brown, a Democrat from Louisville, echoed these sentiments: “Colorado Democrats’ fire mitigation laws help Coloradans protect their properties against wildfires, and this bill helps clarify how property owners can implement these strategies to drive down their insurance costs.” He emphasized the bill’s role in providing the necessary information for residents to take action and potentially lower their insurance premiums.
Key provisions of HB25-1182 include:
- Requiring insurers to provide written notices to policyholders at the time of application, renewal, or non-renewal.
- These notices must include clear explanations of the wildfire risk score or classifications used, a range of possible scores, and how mitigation actions can affect the score.
- Policyholders will have the right to appeal their risk score or classification if they believe it is inaccurate and can provide evidence of mitigation efforts.
- Insurers are required to respond to appeals within 30 calendar days.
- The bill also mandates that insurers consider property-specific and community-wide mitigation efforts, ensuring that risk scores accurately reflect resilience. If such efforts are not already factored into the models, the insurers are required to offer discounts to policyholders.
This legislation represents a step towards empowering Colorado residents with information and tools to manage their property insurance costs more effectively by increasing transparency in the way insurance companies evaluate and price wildfire risk.
