The publication requirement, which may matter more

Subsection D: “If a private passenger automobile, homeowner's multi-peril, or dwelling fire policy's overall rate is increased pursuant to the provisions of this section, the Commissioner shall publish notice of such rate increase and overall percentage of such rate increase on the Insurance Department's website.”

From July 2027, homeowners multi-peril and dwelling-fire increases become publicly posted with their percentages. In a hail state where an association's members are trying to understand why their premiums moved, that is a new and citable public data source.

What “noncompetitive” unlocks, and why it is live right now

The new 36 O.S. § 985(A)(1) draws the line: no rate in a competitive market may be determined to be excessive; a rate in a noncompetitive market may be found excessive where, on actuarial review, it is likely to produce a profit that is unreasonably high for the insurance provided, with an objection-and-response process before any final determination.

That makes the competitive-versus-noncompetitive question the hinge of the whole statute — and Oklahoma is litigating exactly that question now, a year before the statute takes effect. The Insurance Department has a formal proceeding open under 36 O.S. §§ 307 and 984 and OAC 365:1-7-1(a) to decide “whether the homeowners insurance market in Oklahoma is noncompetitive,” before an independent hearing examiner. It was set for September 14, 2026, and was continued to October 26, 2026.²

The Department's notice is careful about the proceeding's limits, verbatim: it is “NOT for the purpose of determining whether any particular homeowners rates are excessive; nor is it for addressing any claims issues.” It is a market finding, not a remedy in anyone's claim.

What an association is actually operating under until then

Use-and-file. A rate takes effect and the filing follows. Oklahoma's Commissioner has stated the position plainly: the Department has “no statutory authority to set or approve homeowners rates except in certain, extraordinary circumstances,” and separately, “I have shared many times over the past year that there was no authority in our statutes to intervene in filed rates from insurers.”³

So a board facing a large master-policy renewal in 2026 or the first half of 2027 has no rate proceeding to intervene in. That does not change until July 2027, and even then a master policy is commercial property insurance, not the homeowners multi-peril or dwelling fire lines named in the publication requirement.

What the filings actually show

The Department publishes company-level approved homeowners rate changes. For January 1 through August 31, 2026 there were 75 filing rows: 40 increases, 22 at zero, 13 decreases, with an unweighted mean of +3.74% and a range from −15.000% to +54.300%. For calendar 2025, 98 rows with an unweighted mean of +6.32%, ranging from −9.5% to +31.9%.⁴

Named 2026 filings from the Department's own table: American Strategic Insurance Corp. at +54.300% effective October 21, 2026 — the outlier of the year; Central Insurance Company at +19.700%; the USAA companies between +13.000% and +17.800%; Stillwater at +15.100%; Rock Ridge at +15.000%. The largest decrease was Branch Insurance Exchange at −15.000%.

An honest caveat on those figures: they are unweighted averages of filing-level overall rate impact, not premium-weighted market averages, and one insurer can appear several times. The Department's own framing: “Rate filings are reviewed in accordance with Oklahoma law and do not constitute rate-setting by the Department.”

What a board can do with a year's notice

Plan renewals on the current rules through mid-2027. Nothing about the filing process changes before then, and a budget that assumes it has is premature.

Watch the October 26 hearing, because it decides which subsection applies. Competitive means thirty days and no excessive-rate finding available. Noncompetitive means sixty days and an actuarial-review channel.

Remember the notice period is a separate question. Oklahoma raised non-renewal notice for personal residential policies from 30 days to 60 effective July 25, 2026. Nothing in HB 3781 touches notice periods.

What to watch next

Oklahoma elects a new Insurance Commissioner on November 3, 2026 — Commissioner Mulready is term-limited. The Republican nominee, Bob Sullivan, won the August 25 runoff with 55.1% and has said that if elected he would declare the homeowners market non-competitive and use HB 3781 from July 2027 to challenge the actuarial support for increases.⁵ The Democratic nominee is Craig MacIntyre. Whoever wins takes office before the statute does.