Bill > HB204

This bill mandates that insurance companies using wildfire risk models, which are tools to assess the likelihood of wildfire damage to homes, must provide detailed information about these models to the state superintendent of insurance as part of their rate filings, including how the models impact premiums and influence underwriting decisions. Insurers will also need to report how their models account for statewide wildfire mitigation efforts, such as forest treatments and investments in firefighting equipment, and these models and methods will be protected as trade secrets. The bill requires insurers to either incorporate property-specific actions, like creating defensible space around a home, and community-level mitigation efforts, such as forest management, into their risk models or offer discounts to policyholders who demonstrate these actions have been taken. Furthermore, insurers must clearly post information on their websites about available discounts for mitigation efforts and the process for appealing a wildfire risk score, and provide annual written notices to policyholders and applicants detailing their wildfire risk score, how it was determined, and how mitigation actions could affect it. This applies to homeowners insurance and policies for residential condominiums and multi-family housing, with the superintendent tasked with creating rules for discount ranges, and the provisions taking effect on July 1, 2026, applying to filings and applications after June 30, 2026.

https://www.nmlegis.gov/Legislation/Legislation?chamber=H&legtype=B&legno=204&year=26