LATEST NEWS

Insurance Rates
The Associated Press, 1/18/25

Base rates for North Carolina homeowners’ insurance premiums will increase on average by about 15% by mid-2026 as part of a settlement reached by the state Insurance Department and the industry. The agreement announced Friday by state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey contrasts with the January 2024 request by the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which represents insurance companies, seeking a 42.2% overall average increase. Causey, an elected official who began his third term earlier this month, formally rejected the bureau’s request last year. That led to a formal hearing that began in October and included multiple weeks of witnesses, evidence and arguments. The state Insurance Department said its witnesses would contend rates should be lowered or increased by less than 3%. Except for the settlement, a hearing officer — in consultation with Causey — would have decided what the new rates should be. The Rate Bureau could have appealed that decision in court. Read more

Heading into 2025, NC homeowners’ insurance rate hearing continues without resolution
By Chantal Allam December 26, 2024 5:45 AM

The dispute between North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey and insurance companies over their request to raise homeowners’ approved rates by double digits headed to a hearing on Oct. 7. It was expected to “last several weeks,” according to his office. More than 10 weeks later, it’s still not over. After multiple delays — including a monthlong pause in November — the hearing is “in recess until Jan. 3, 2025,” Jason Tyson, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Insurance, told The N&O in an email. The Rate Bureau, which represents some 110 companies operating in the state, submitted the filing for a statewide 42.2% average increase in January 2024. Causey rejected the request, calling it “excessive and discriminatory,” and scheduled the hearing in case the two sides could not reach an agreement on new rates. They did not. This is the first hearing under Causey’s watch. In eight years as the commissioner, he’s raised property insurance rates 16 times — all without a public hearing. Read more

COVID Claims
The Associated Press, 12/13/24

North Carolina's Supreme Court issued mixed rulings Friday for businesses seeking financial help from the COVID-19 pandemic, declaring one insurer's policy must cover losses some restaurants and bars incurred but that another insurer's policy for a nationwide clothing store chain doesn't due to an exception. The unanimous decisions by the seven-member court in the pair of cases addressed the requirements of "all-risk" commercial property insurance policies issued by Cincinnati and Zurich American insurance companies to the businesses. The companies who paid premiums saw reduced business and income, furloughed or laid off employees and even closed from the coronavirus and resulting 2020 state and local government orders limiting commerce and public movement. North Carolina restaurants, for example, were forced for some time to limit sales to takeout or drive-in orders. Read more - Copy of Opinion

Building codes led North Carolina to lose out on $70M in disaster prep funds, state says

As North Carolina rebuilds from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, the loss of $70 million in FEMA funds — $18 million of which would have helped western North Carolina to prepare for floods — may come back to haunt the state. The shortfall can in part be attributed to the state’s building codes, which by design, only implement new standards years after they are adopted at the international level. Currently, North Carolina still relies on 2015 international standards that were put in place in 2018 when the state used a three-year cycle (in effect, a three-year lag time) for adopting new standards. What’s more, because the state Building Code Council voted in 2014 to move to a six-year revision cycle with the support of the North Carolina Home Builders Association and other interest groups, it is only now working to implement the 2018 international standards. These delays put North Carolina behind most other coastal states vying for flood mitigation projects. Read more

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