2026-09-12 · Minnesota · Regulation

What happened. The Minnesota Department of Commerce has published the benchmark premium discounts insurers are measured against when they file rates for IBHS FORTIFIED construction — the standard built specifically to resist wind and hail.

The figures sit in a Commerce-hosted technical document, Development of Catastrophe Mitigation Discount Table — Minnesota FORTIFIED, Methodology Document, dated March 2026, prepared with the NAIC Catastrophe Risk Management Center of Excellence.¹

The table

Footnoted in the document: “All credits above are for residential and total SCS (i.e., would apply to the wind/hail combined premium).” These are not discounts off the whole premium — they apply to the wind and hail portion.

How the benchmark is used

The document states the review posture directly: discounts below the best estimate “may require additional actuarial support or justification,” while discounts at or above it “would generally be considered consistent with the modeled analysis and may not require further demonstration of actuarial support.”

The credits were developed statewide rather than by ZIP code, because mitigation relativities varied little across Minnesota. They were derived from two catastrophe models — Verisk Touchstone v13 severe thunderstorm and KCC SevereConvectiveStorm_NAM-US v4.0 — plus a Commerce data call issued in February 2025 collecting insurer fixed-expense and reinsurance provisions, supplemented by public rate filings.

The statute behind it

Minn. Stat. § 65A.298 requires insurers to give a premium discount or rate reduction for residential “insurable property” certified to FORTIFIED standards including a hail supplement, for new construction and for retrofitted existing properties alike; to file actuarially justified rates and a rating plan; and to resubmit at least every five years. The statute confines the discount to the wind and hail portion of the premium.²

1. “Development of Catastrophe Mitigation Discount Table — Minnesota FORTIFIED, Methodology Document” (March 2026), Minnesota Department of Commerce ↩
2. Minn. Stat. § 65A.298 — homeowner’s insurance; FORTIFIED program standards ↩
3. “2024 HOA Insurance Survey Results,” HOA Leadership Network, filed with the Legislative Working Group on Common Interest Communities and HOAs (26 Nov. 2024) ↩
4. Task Force on Homeowners and Commercial Property Insurance, Final Report to the Minnesota Legislature (13 Feb. 2026) ↩
5. Minn. Stat. § 65A.299 — Strengthen Minnesota Homes program (subject to appropriation) ↩