2026-09-15 · Montana · Regulation

What happened. Montana's insurance regulator put licensed insurers on notice that refusing coverage on generalised wildfire grounds will be investigated as unfair discrimination — and named the statute it will use.

The document

An Advisory Memorandum dated July 2, 2025, from the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance / Office of the State Auditor, signed by Commissioner James Brown, captioned “Advisory Memorandum Regarding Insurance Refusals and Wildfire Risks” and addressed to “ALL LICENSED PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURERS.” It restates a prohibition the office first issued in 2000.¹

The statute it rests on

§ 33-18-210(7), MCA provides that an insurer may not make or permit unfair discrimination between individuals or risks of the same class and essentially the same hazards by refusing to issue, refusing to renew, cancelling, or limiting the amount of coverage on a property or casualty risk because of the geographic location of the risk — unless for a genuine business purpose or as required by law.

What the memorandum instructs

CSI says complaints have come from areas not threatened by wildfires, including inside the city limits of developed cities and towns, and it names refusals in Helena arising from the Rimini-area fire. Insurers

“are expected to make decisions concerning the issuance, renewal, cancellation, or changes in coverage of property and casualty insurance on a case-by-case basis and with reference to the degree the property involved is actually threatened by wildfire.”

Any refusal, cancellation or limitation based on threat of wildfire that does not reflect a substantially increased risk “will be investigated for violation of the statute,” and the office “will aggressively pursue any such violation.” Complaints go to the CSI Insurance Consumer Services Bureau, (406) 444-2040 or [email protected].

1. “Advisory Memorandum Regarding Insurance Refusals and Wildfire Risks,” Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, July 2, 2025 (scanned PDF) ↩
2. Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance newsroom — including “Montana State Auditor Urges Flood, Wildfire Insurance,” Sept. 9, 2026 ↩
3. Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance — advisory memoranda index ↩