Insurance

As the insurance crisis deepens in the West and across the country, policies known as surplus lines are becoming more important. This lightly regulated and previously niche corner of the insurance market comes with a number of risks, and a new report from Climate Cabinet Education offers policy recommendations.

In 2025, roughly 4.5% of Utah homeowners policies — or nearly 1 in 20 — were not renewed by insurance providers. That’s the highest rate in the country, and 1.5% higher than the number two state California.

Blame wildfires and hail — made more destructive by climate change — for the deteriorating insurance situation in the West. Add in hurricanes and other disasters elsewhere, and it’s a nationwide trend — one that a new report from the advocacy group the Insurance Fairness Project says is threatening home sales.

Alongside homeowners insurance premiums, costs for multi-family rental property policies and other insurance required in the business are also on the rise. That has big implications for tenants – especially those in subsidized or affordable housing.

Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho and Wyoming have no statewide wildfire building codes. Colorado adopted a code last year, with enforcement expected to begin this year. Most other Western states are somewhere in between.

Insurance regulation is complex, in part, because it’s done state-by-state, meaning there are dozens of different schemes across the country.

Proponents of a bill in Colorado say stronger roofs would mean less damage during storms, and lower home insurance costs.

Statehouses across the West are considering reforms to respond to the homeowners insurance crisis. While some are hitting headwinds, concern about the issue isn’t going away.

Using a massive data set detailing some 70 million policies, researchers have found that “credit scores impact homeowners insurance premiums as much as disaster risk.”

A bipartisan bill that would require homeowner insurance companies to disclose what models they use to assess insurance prices is getting a hearing in front of the legislature Tuesday.