What the assuming carrier has to prove, and what you get in the post

“Step 3. Insurers must have their companies' forms and rates approved by the Louisiana Department of Insurance on or before March 30, 2026. In accordance with LSA-R.S. 22:2314, insurers must provide proof to Louisiana Citizens that rates have been approved and are adequate under LSA-R.S. 22:1451 et seq. and comply with LSA-R.S. 22:2303.”

“Step 5. The assuming insurer shall mail a certificate of assumption to each assumed policyholder confirming the assumption. This certificate shall be mailed between March 20, 2026 and March 30, 2026, and the agent should be copied. A separate letter to the insured and producer will also be mailed from Louisiana Citizens, informing them of the assumption.”

So the association's first direct notice is a certificate of assumption arriving about ten days before the policy changes hands. That is not much time to read a new form.

One thing we could not establish

Whether Citizens' depopulation data files include commercial policies — which is to say, association master policies — is not stated in the Round 23 process document, which is generic as to line of business. Do not tell a board its master policy is or is not in the pool; ask Citizens or the producer.

What can be said with confidence is that if a commercial policy is in the pool, the R.S. 22:1474 producer-approval mechanism is what governs it, because the process document applies that step to all requested policies without distinction.

Why this changes the questions for a board's agent

Three questions a Louisiana board has probably never asked, and now should.

Who is our producer of record? Not who services the account day to day — who is recorded as producer on the Citizens policy. That is the person with the authorisation portal login.

What did you authorise, and on what basis? An authorisation moves the association to a different carrier with a different form, a different named-storm deductible and possibly a different admitted status. A producer holds a professional duty to the client, but the mechanism does not require them to consult first.

What are we comparing? Citizens publishes Coverage Comparison Worksheets for agents and policyholders in each round. That is the document that shows what changes, and asking for it is the practical form of the question.

Where the association's own governance duties bite

Two of them, and they land at awkward moments in this calendar.

A mid-year assumption changes the premium the ratified budget assumed. R.S. 9:1141.34(A)(1) requires a planned-community association's budget to go to the owners with a summary and a ratification meeting between ten and sixty days later; an April 1 assumption falls after most Louisiana associations have ratified. If the change produces a shortfall, the routes are an ordinary special assessment on the same ratification procedure under subsection (B), or the emergency route under subsection (C) — two-thirds of the directors present, effective immediately, with funds spendable “only for the purposes described in the vote.”

And the assuming carrier's admitted status matters more than it sounds. R.S. 22:1267.1's once-a-year named-storm deductible rule binds only “an authorized insurer.” Depopulation participants must be admitted carriers with a Certificate of Authority, so an assumption out of Citizens into an admitted carrier keeps the association inside that protection — while a later move into surplus lines would take it out.

What a board can do

• Identify the producer of record in writing, and confirm the board's instructions to them. The authorisation happens whether or not you have given any.
• Ask for the Coverage Comparison Worksheet before the authorisation window closes, not after the certificate arrives.
• Diary the round windows. For Round 24 the assumption date is December 1, 2026, so the producer window runs in the autumn.
• Check admitted status on any replacement. It decides whether R.S. 22:1267.1 and R.S. 22:868 apply to you.

What to watch next

Round 24, assuming December 1, 2026. We saw that date in a search summary rather than in an opened Citizens document, so confirm it against Citizens' own Round 24 page before relying on it. And Citizens' commercial rate notices, which are where a change in how the statutory ten-percent loading is applied would show up.