Legislative update

Preparing for January

By Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint
Reader Contributor

Greetings,

The cold weather is upon us. For legislators, it’s time to finalize plans for the 2026 legislative session in Boise. I keep a running list of local issues that may rise to the level of a legislative bill between each session. In years past, this list has led me to draft several bills for our district that “work” statewide. Many have become law.

As summer wound down, I began to prioritize my list. This year I’m particularly interested in property insurance coverage and costs. What caught my attention was more than just the premium increases (for many, those increases have been substantial). I have learned many property owners received “non-renewal” notices with little explanation of why or what can be done to keep their coverage and/or little time to find another carrier despite a long history with their insurance provider and no history of claims.

I started my research with the director of insurance in Boise. Our area has surpassed the statewide average for non-renewals in two of the past three years. In some of our zip code areas the “drop” rate approaches 10%. With little time for policyholders faced with a non-renewal notice to learn about their options, considerable stress (and expense) results for our property owners.

Statewide, average policy costs have risen about 60% from 2022 to 2024. Some of the factors are several significant wildland urban interface large loss fires, our similarities to those fire areas, significant losses by the same carriers we have in our area, the movement of more people to fire-prone areas, the increased cost of construction and the increased value of property. Some insurance carriers have left our area, too.

In some respects, property insurance is like property tax. It’s a “bottom line” cost that is unavoidable. It’s something homeowners must pay so they can keep a mortgage. In some cases, it can make or break a first-time homebuyer’s loan qualification. The difficulty in finding insurance (and the high cost) can be a factor in home values and property sales too. Local business and our economy can be affected, as well.

Fire departments are a factor in this. Their abilities (staff and equipment), water supply, distance from a property and dispatch systems are some of the factors considered by insurance companies when premiums are set.

With all the above in mind, I believe the following actions (at least) are worth some effort in 2026 to address this complex issue:

• Standardize and extend the time a policyholder has to find a new insurance carrier to at least 60 days. This action alone would help to reduce stress and give time to sort out all the options.

• Insurance carriers need to increase their transparency by advising policyholders of what factors influence their premium formulas. While some of this information may be proprietary, providing a general, understandable guideline for policyholders would be more than helpful. Fire mitigation is in everyone’s best interests (insurance companies and policyholders). Campaign fires like the recent Sunset fire are tragic and extremely expensive.

• Insurance carriers need to provide information for their policyholders to use in reducing their premiums. Insurance company research has developed many best practices that could be adopted by individual policyholders. This insurance information could be passed along to individual policyholders and even aggregated on the state insurance website.

• Consider adopting some targeted industry supported grant programs to incentivize “house hardening” actions by individual homeowners.

• Recognize the possible grading incentives available for local fire districts to embrace wildland fire interface prevention and preparedness. This could be done (cost free) by the Idaho Survey and Rating Board. ISRB is a nonprofit group that grades fire departments and commercial structures for use by member insurance companies.

• Familiarize our residents with insurance information options by ensuring the Idaho Department of Insurance is a well-used resource with a responsive consumer hotline (800-721-3272) for all insurance questions including non-renewal issues and a useful website with helpful information.

I have already started a conversation with some of our industry representatives regarding the issues mentioned above. I believe “we” can keep our regulation light and still get some things done that will help our policyholders and mitigate some of our fire risk.

It is an honor to serve our district. Questions, thoughts, suggestions? Please send them to me at [email protected].

Rep. Mark Sauter is a second-term Republican legislator representing District 1A. He serves on the Agricultural Affairs; Education; and Resources and Conservation committees.