Senate Finance Postpones House Bill 1302, Which Would Have Funded Reinsurance to Curb Rising Homeowners Insurance Costs

The Senate Finance Committee, at its final meeting of the session, voted to postpone indefinitely House Bill 1302, a proposal that would have directed roughly $27 million toward reinsurance programs intended to blunt steep increases in property and casualty insurance premiums.

Advocates said the bill was a first step to limit premium spikes in high-risk Colorado areas; opponents and some committee members said the fee increases required to fund it would unduly burden working families. The committee used a reverse roll call to postpone the bill after a failed motion to send it to the appropriations committee with a favorable recommendation.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Senator Snyder, told the committee the state faces rapidly escalating disaster costs and insurance-market strain. “Annual disaster related costs now range from 1.7 to $4,000,000,000,” Snyder said, adding that reinsurance — insurance for insurers — has jumped “a 105% from 2017 to 2023.” Snyder said House Bill 1302 proposed “$27,000,000 between the veil program and the wildfire reinsurance program,” and described that amount as an initial, targeted effort for the highest-risk areas.

“Saying we did nothing would be a hard answer to give to constituents facing rising premiums,” Snyder said. He also urged colleagues to review a recent report from the Colorado Competitive Council on property and casualty insurance.

Senator Mabile, a co-prime sponsor, said the bill reflected broad stakeholder engagement, including with the insurance industry and consumer groups. “We do actually need to come up with some big ideas here,” Mabile said. “We’re gonna be looking like Florida or California, where people are just going uninsured.”

Senator Mullica expressed concern about the bill’s cost to policyholders. “This does add, you know, 1% fee,” Mullica said, and said that asking residents to accept a rate increase in order to later see smaller increases is a difficult sell. Mullica said he supported continued work but could not vote for the bill as written.

Committee chair (referred to in the record as Madam Chair) asked for amendments; none were offered and the amendment phase was closed. Senator Snyder moved to transmit House Bill 1302 to the committee on appropriations with a favorable recommendation. That motion failed on roll call, 2 yes to 6 no. Senator Gonzales then moved to postpone the bill indefinitely by reverse roll call; the committee proceeded without objection and the bill was postponed indefinitely.

Committee discussion included several quantitative claims and estimates recorded on the floor: an estimate that statewide reinsurance capacity sufficient to affect premiums would cost “somewhere in the range of 2 to $300,000,000” (as stated in the hearing transcript), a citation that reinsurance premiums had risen about 105% from 2017 to 2023, and a reference to a single Denver hailstorm loss estimated at $1,700,000,000. Committee members also referenced the state’s insurer-of-last-resort program (referred to in the hearing as the “fair plan”) while saying it does not fully cover homeowners’ needs in high-risk areas.

The record shows committee members expressed willingness to continue work over the interim on alternative funding sources and policy options to address the state’s rising homeowners-insurance costs, but no formal direction to staff or further committee action on the bill was recorded in the transcript.

House Bill 1302 therefore remains postponed indefinitely following the Senate Finance Committee’s final session; sponsors said they plan additional work during the interim to seek other funding paths and solutions.