SB1644

A covered insurer using credit scoring must use a report issued no more than 90 days before initial policy issuance or renewal when it uses that information for an action with an adverse effect. It must review and update an insured’s credit report at least every 36 months, reassess the policy rating and adjust premiums based on the updated score. At renewal, it must re-underwrite and re-rate using a current credit report or insurance score when the insured or the insured’s agent requests it, no more than once per 12-month period. It may obtain a score sooner than the 36-month interval under its underwriting guidelines. The request provision is tied to renewal, not a general right to an immediate midterm price change. Final law.

The law excuses the update and rating requirements if the insured is in the insurer’s most favorably priced tier within a group of affiliated insurers, if the policy is not underwritten or rated using credit scoring, or if the product or coverage type does not rely on it. Covered personal insurance includes personal auto, residential property, residential fire/allied lines, and noncommercial boat, personal-watercraft, snowmobile and recreational-vehicle policies. The chapter’s insurer definition excludes farm mutual companies and eligible surplus-lines insurers. The statute is not a promise to move a customer to the cheapest company in an affiliated group. Final law; Coverage, insurer and adverse-effect definitions.

When a credit report contributes to an adverse action, the existing notice due within 30 days must now also explain, if applicable, the insured’s right to request renewal re-underwriting and re-rating. The existing reasons, reporting-agency contact information, free-report and dispute notices remain. “Adverse effect” includes denial, cancellation, nonrenewal or an accepted policy form, rate or deductible different from what the consumer specifically requested. The existing 60-day period to obtain a free credit report is not a new 60-day insurance refund deadline. Existing limits on discriminatory credit factors and solely credit-based denial, cancellation or nonrenewal are not repealed. Final law; Earlier adverse-action notice; Existing credit-use restrictions.

The Senate committee substitute narrowed the introduced bill’s 90-day report requirement to adverse actions, removed a proposed written opt-out from score updates, and replaced a proposed notice of every score/premium change with notice of the renewal-request right in the adverse-action notice. It also preserved former law for policies before January 1, 2026. The introduced proposal to amend the ordinary renewal disclosure exemption did not survive. Senate committee, Senate-passed, House committee and final operative texts match; no floor amendments are indexed. Introduced; Senate substitute; Senate-passed; House committee; Final law; Version index; Amendment index.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Customers whose credit information improves may benefit from more current pricing and a renewal request, subject to the stated exceptions. Updated information can also change a score unfavorably, and other underwriting and rating factors still matter; the bill contains no premium-reduction guarantee or general consumer opt-out from updates. Insurers may incur report, re-rating and notice-processing costs. Neither actual household savings nor market-wide premium effects are established by the act. Final law; Continued permission to use credit scoring.

The March 25 introduced and April 1 substitute fiscal notes anticipate no significant state or local-government fiscal impact and assume state costs can be absorbed using existing resources. They provide no dollar estimate, multiyear table or quantified consumer/insurer cost analysis. The act makes no appropriation. Introduced fiscal note; Substitute fiscal note; Final law.