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Committee ups insurer notice window for new home policies to 30 days; bill laid over
Summary
The Senate Commerce Committee approved an amendment to extend the notice period for newly issued homeowners policies to 30 days, after a legislator described a near loss of bundled insurance and insurers warned of tradeoffs for binding new coverage.
Senate File 665, a proposal to alter notice periods for insurance cancellations and new policy issuance, received committee attention on April 1 after a senator described a personal experience with a short 20‑day notice that threatened her bundled auto and home coverages.
What the committee did: The committee adopted an A3 amendment that increases the notice period for new policies from 20 days to 30 days. Senator Umuver Batten (transcript name varies) explained she received a 20‑day cancellation notice on a newly issued homeowners policy that would have required expensive, immediate repairs to a detached garage to keep the policy in effect; she said the extra 10 days provided by the A3 amendment would have helped.
Industry response: Aaron Cocking, president and CEO of the Insurance Federation of Minnesota, said 30 days is “certainly much superior to the 60 days” proposal the senator initially sought and described concerns insurers have about being unable to terminate coverage for newly bound risks in a timely way. Cocking warned that extending notice windows can make insurers less willing to bind coverage immediately and could lead to more pre‑binding inspections — a tradeoff for consumer access to immediate coverage.
Technical points: Committee members and industry witnesses noted the bill targets new policy issuance timing rather than midterm cancellation or nonrenewal rules, which have separate statutory timelines. Senators also discussed replacement cost versus actual cash‑value coverage as an explanatory factor for insurer behavior and claims liability.
Outcome: The A3 amendment raising the notice period for new policies to 30 days was adopted; the bill was laid over for possible inclusion. Senators said they will continue discussions with insurers and the Department of Commerce to pursue additional options for consumers who need more time to complete required repairs.
Ending note: Sponsor said she will continue to work with industry on possible targeted exceptions (extensions or partial exemptions) although those amendments were not moved during this hearing.
