2026-09-10 · Colorado · Regulation

Since July 1, 2026, a Colorado insurer that uses a wildfire risk score has had to tell the policyholder the score, explain why the property got it, and answer an appeal within thirty days — and the statute expressly covers property insurance policies on residential condominium units. HB25-1182 was signed in May 2025 with a date-certain effective clause, and it applies to property insurance policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2026. It is live law now.¹

For a Colorado association that has spent money on fuel reduction and defensible space and seen nothing back in premium, this is the mechanism the state built to change that.

The scope clause is the headline

New C.R.S. 10-4-124(10) says the section “applies only to homeowner's insurance policies as defined in section 10-4-110.6, property insurance policies covering residential condominium units as defined in section 38-33-103 (1), and multifamily residential housing as defined in section 24-32-3701 (9).” Subsection (9) adds that it applies to coverage provided by the Colorado FAIR Plan association. That is a rare Colorado insurance-transparency statute that does not stop at the single-family homeowner's policy.

Community mitigation has to count for something

The act defines a “community-level mitigation action” as a science-based mitigation action demonstrated by a community- or neighbourhood-level designation or certification, or undertaken by a government entity. A “property-specific mitigation action” is one demonstrated by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety “Wildfire Prepared Home” designation or a similar programme with verification and certification.

Subsection (3) then requires an insurer using a wildfire risk model or catastrophe model to ensure that both property-specific mitigation and community-level mitigation activities — “including forest treatment and other fuel reduction activities” — are either built into the models or “otherwise demonstrably included in the insurer's underwriting and pricing.” Subsection (4) supplies the alternative: an insurer that does not build them in shall provide discounts to policyholders who demonstrate property-specific mitigation on the property, or community-level mitigation “in sufficient proximity to the property to reduce the risk of loss.”

1. HB25-1182 signed act text, new C.R.S. 10-4-124 (source of the quoted statutory language) ↩
2. HB25-1182, "Property Insurance Underwriting Wildfire Risk Models" — bill page, Colorado General Assembly ↩
3. Regulations Adopted But Not Yet Effective (Regulations 5-1-28 and 5-1-29), Colorado Division of Insurance ↩
4. "Hail is the Number One Cost Driver of Insurance in Colorado" — Colorado Division of Insurance premium-share analysis ↩