All Roll Calls
Yes: 207 • No: 2
UtahH.B. 582026 General SessionHouseWALLET
Insurance Code Modifications
Sponsored By: James A. Dunnigan (Republican)
Signed by Governor
InsuranceInsurance DepartmentBusinessTitle and Escrow
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
53 provisions identified: 31 benefits, 13 costs, 9 mixed.
Public adjuster fees and contracts protect claimants
Public adjuster compensation or reimbursement cannot exceed 10% of a catastrophic settlement or 20% of another settlement. Adjusters cannot demand or accept compensation before settlement. Contracts must explain fee calculations and initial expense types with dollar estimates; an itemized expense bill is due when the claim ends. Adjusters must use a department-filed written form, sign two copies, give the insured a signed copy, include required notices, and leave compensation terms visible. Contracts cannot authorize prohibited collection practices, add collection costs or late fees, or block civil remedies; after lawful rescission notice, adjusters must return anything received within 15 business days.
Wealthy insureds lose insurer failure protection
Claims by or against insureds worth more than $25 million are excluded from Utah's Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association coverage. Net worth is measured when the insurer becomes insolvent or is ordered into liquidation. The exclusion limits this backup protection when an insurer fails.
Higher coverage protects title and escrow clients
Required coverage for appointed individual and agency title insurance producers rises from $250,000 to at least $500,000. Producers must carry a fidelity bond or crime insurance for specified losses involving money they hold for others. They also need professional liability insurance for improper title services, including escrow services. The Title and Escrow Commission can grant exemptions when required insurance is generally unavailable at reasonable rates.
Insurance trust accounts safeguard customer money
Public adjusters holding insured money must use trust accounts at federally insured institutions authorized by their primary regulators for trust business. The institution must have a Utah branch for resident licensees, a home-state branch for nonresidents, or a branch where the loss occurred. Other covered Utah-resident insurance licensees must use federally insured trust accounts at institutions with Utah branches and Utah trust-business authority. Title insurance licensees are exempt from these general deposit-account rules.
Public adjusters face stronger conduct safeguards
Public adjusters cannot solicit during a damaging event, offer to pay or waive deductibles, or take conflicting compensation or interests. They cannot perform covered repairs, handle claims beyond their expertise, or act as another adjuster on the same claim. They cannot settle without the insured's knowledge or consent. The law limits improper check handling, interference with repair-provider choice, and contractor efforts to get signatures on adjuster contracts. Adjusters must send an insured-signed authorization letter; insurers must then verify their licenses with Utah's insurance department.
Limited long-term care loses required protections
Beginning May 6, 2026, Utah repeals specified limited long-term care disclosure and performance standards. It also repeals required benefits that protect policy value when coverage ends. The insurance commissioner can still set minimum standards, coverage-outline rules, and individual-policy loss-ratio standards, but is no longer required to. The law does not state how premiums or coverage amounts change.
Property policies can limit claim assignments
Property policies can bar assigning claim rights or benefits to repair, roofing, cleanup, appraisal, inspection, or other damage-remediation providers. Insureds cannot use a power of attorney to bypass that policy restriction. Policies cannot bar assignments to a policy adjuster.
Associations gain a life insurance option
Insurers can issue group life insurance to trustees of a fund established for association members. The association needs commissioner approval, at least 100 members, and at least five years of active existence. It must have qualifying bylaws and a shared purpose unrelated to getting insurance. Membership cannot depend on health status, and coverage must be offered only to members in connection with membership. Benefits must be reasonable compared with premiums.
Clearer ambulance plans and capped application fees
Ambulance membership sellers must disclose every fee; a one-time application fee cannot exceed $25. Before enrollment, members must receive terms covering payment, cost sharing, services, exclusions, cancellation, refunds, and any insurance or medical-necessity requirements. A separate bold, at least 12-point disclosure explains that membership is not insurance, Medicare considerations, service areas, and possible out-of-area costs. Email delivery requires consent; notices also appear on the first content page of covered materials and during first telephone contact. Sellers must file plans before they take effect and written ads for state review; misleading or state-endorsement claims and waiting or notice barriers are banned.
Injury claimants gain payment enforcement rights
Auto personal injury protection insurers must pay documented portions of claims within 30 days after receiving reasonable proof. Remaining amounts become overdue if unpaid 30 days after proof for those amounts arrives. Claimants who sue and obtain an order requiring overdue benefits and interest also receive a reasonable attorney's fee from the insurer.
Policyholders gain fairer surplus payment rules
Insurers must explain planned surplus payments to a policyholder class at least 30 days before paying them. The commissioner must block payments that are materially unfair to others or put the insurer in financial danger. For policies other than life insurance or annuities, renewal or premium-payment conditions must have been stated when issued. Utah mutual insurers and mutual insurance holding companies must pay member dividends when directors find them in the company's best interests. Dividends come from net savings and earnings and must use reasonable classifications without unfair discrimination; no amount is guaranteed.
Dental patients gain coverage rule protections
The Utah Insurance Commissioner must set minimum benefits for covered individual and franchise dental policies. The law does not list the required benefits. Dental insurers must follow Utah covered-service, noncovered-service, and reimbursement rules for care completed in Utah for Utah residents. This applies when at least 10% of the plan's certificate holders or insureds live in Utah. The insurer's location, where the plan was issued or delivered, and contract choice-of-law terms do not override this rule.
Health claim payments protect insured patients
Insurers must pay valid health claims on time, whether you or your provider submits them. Dental insurers must mail claim checks to the provider's chosen address. Returned checks or checks uncashed for 180 days require reasonable contact attempts by phone, mail, and email. After 365 days, the insurer's payment duty ends only with documented attempts and no provider request for payment or contact. When that happens, the provider cannot bill you for that payment.
Medicaid members protected from ambulance plans
Ambulance membership organizations cannot knowingly sell, offer, or provide a membership plan to someone enrolled in Medicaid. The ban applies when the organization knows the person is enrolled.
Patients get clearer dental coverage notices
When a dental service is not covered, the insurer must send an explanation to both the patient and dental provider. It must clearly say that the procedure code is not covered by the plan. The insurer cannot label the unpaid amount as a required contract discount or mandatory write-off.
Refund rights for ambulance plan members
An ambulance plan organization must refund unused periodic charges and membership fees when it cancels your plan, except for nonpayment. If you join Medicaid during your plan, notify the organization within 30 days to qualify for a prorated refund. That refund covers the period from Medicaid's start date through your plan's expiration. The organization must end your membership within 30 days after receiving notice. Missing the notice deadline means you lose this Medicaid-related refund right.
Title agencies must report delayed wires
Title agencies must report real-estate or title wires they reasonably believe failed to arrive within two business days. This applies to wires they initiated or were meant to receive. Reports go to the commissioner and appointing insurers within seven business days after the agency learns the supporting facts. No report is needed if the recipient receives the transfer within one business day after that awareness. Good-faith reports receive civil immunity, except in department actions for Insurance Code violations; reporting does not guarantee recovery.
Title escrows gain local service safeguards
Title producers handling real-estate escrows must maintain a Utah office staffed by someone authorized to process escrows. At the first title commitment, they must tell proposed insured parties that a closing protection letter is available. Escrow money can use federally insured institutions authorized by their primary regulators for Utah trust business. For Utah-resident title producers, those institutions do not need a Utah branch. The commissioner can also set rules for winding down resident title agencies.
Longtime insurance licensees gain education exemptions
Insurance licensees first licensed before December 31, 1988, can request a continuing-education exemption, replacing the December 31, 1982, cutoff. They must receive department approval. Their license cannot have a continuous lapse longer than one year, subject to the exception for exemptions approved before May 11, 2011.
Title agencies get later assessment deadlines
Title agencies assessed under Section 31A-41-202(3)(b) must pay by August 31 instead of August 1. They get 30 more days to pay. The assessment amount does not change.
Privacy for title agencies making reports
Beginning May 6, 2026, certain agency title insurance producers' identities are protected from public disclosure. This applies to agencies reporting to the Utah Insurance Commissioner under Subsection 31A-23a-204(11)(a). It protects their identifying information, not every record involving a title agency.
Insurance investigators gain licensee crime authority
Department insurance fraud investigators can investigate crimes committed by department licensees during activities regulated by Utah's Insurance Code. The investigator must be employed by the department.
Title agencies face stronger license oversight
Title producers face enforcement for doing title business without an insurer appointment or lacking one for more than 28 consecutive days. The commissioner must make the required finding and follow state administrative procedures. Available actions include license suspension or revocation, business-account freezes, subpoenas, injunction requests, and posted notices of specified actions. One qualifying licensee can serve no more than two title agencies at a time.
Bail agencies exempt from insurer supervision
Utah bail bond agencies are exempt from the Insurance Code chapter on administrative supervision of insurers. This exemption concerns that chapter, not all regulation of bail agencies.
Captive policyholders gain broader enforcement safeguards
The commissioner can suspend or revoke captive insurer authority for failing requirements throughout the certificate-of-authority part. Enforcement is no longer limited to failures under one section. The commissioner must find a listed ground and decide the action serves the public's and policyholders' best interests.
Dental providers gain payment and contract protections
Beginning January 1, 2026, dental plans must wait more than 60 days after notice to automatically recover overpayments, unless providers choose earlier recovery. Until July 1, 2028, dental insurers cannot charge for paying by paper check. Providers who disclosed their full fee list and have contracted prices can report either contracted or full charges without penalties. Insurers cannot require full charges as a condition of processing or paying those claims. For Utah care, signed agreements and supplied handbooks govern contracts; insurers must provide required handbooks and notify providers of new or updated versions.
Injury claim transfers get payment deadlines
A liability insurer can give written notice identifying reimbursement funds needed to settle a third-party injury claim. The notice must identify the amount and the liability insurer receiving it. The no-fault insurer must return that portion of the reimbursement within 15 business days after receiving notice.
Captive account excess supports general spending
Starting in fiscal year 2027, captive insurance account receipts above $1.6875 million at fiscal year-end become General Fund free revenue. The rule applies each year after that. It does not create a household payment.
Captive insurance funds support state oversight
The insurance commissioner must use Captive Insurance Restricted Account money to administer and enforce Utah's captive insurance laws. The money also supports promotion of Utah's captive insurance industry. Spending depends on legislative appropriations; the law sets no funding amount.
Captives gain a governance compliance choice
Captive insurers seeking or holding Utah authority can meet the stated governance requirement in either of two ways. They can hold an annual Utah governing-body meeting with a quorum and at least one out-of-state person physically present. Or they can join the Utah Captive Insurance Association at its highest membership level.
Inactive captives gain dormant status options
Captive insurers can qualify for dormant status after stopping insurance business, including issuing policies. Any remaining insurance obligations must be sufficiently funded or secured. Risk retention groups and sponsored captive cells cannot qualify. Dormant captives must hold at least 10% of the minimum capital required under Section 31A-37-204. This replaces fixed minimums that varied by captive type.
Insurers can count more qualifying investments
Specified investments, securities, property, and loans can count toward an insurer's financial condition when held under the applicable investment rules. Other legal limits still apply. Certain permitted investments above standard limits can also count, but only to the extent of proven excess surplus. The insurer must establish that surplus amount. When investment chapters conflict, insurance holding-company or captive insurance rules take priority over the general investment chapter.
Insurers can get filing deadline extensions
The commissioner can extend deadlines for statements covered by this reporting rule, including quarterly statements. Insurers must show good cause. An extension changes the deadline, not the duty to report.
Foreign ambulance organizations gain regulatory exemptions
Foreign ambulance membership organizations gain exemptions when they hold a limited health plan certificate and comply with Part 2. They are exempt from Part 3 and Sections 31A-8-204, 205, 206, 211, and 214 through 217. The law does not state a change to member prices or coverage.
Patients still owe noncovered dental bills
A dentist can still bill and collect from you for a service your plan does not cover. This remains true even when the insurer fails to send the required explanation of benefits. The law does not set the amount owed.
Some groups lose health coverage eligibility
One route to group accident and health insurance now covers groups eligible for group life policies under Sections 31A-22-502 through 31A-22-508. Groups relying on Section 31A-22-509 can no longer use that route. The group must also exist in good faith for a purpose other than obtaining insurance. This change does not address other ways a group can qualify.
Insurance professionals face home-state license discipline
Insurance licensees and applicants must keep an active resident license in their home state or designated home state. The Utah Insurance Commissioner may discipline those who fail to do so. Any discipline must follow a formal administrative proceeding.
Large health-plan buyers lose commission disclosures
Large health-plan customers no longer receive specified required disclosures about insurer or claims-administrator payments to insurance producers before initial placement. The law also removes specified annual commission accounting. Related acknowledgment, recordkeeping, and department-production duties are removed. These changes concern the former large-customer rules, not every insurance compensation disclosure.
Captive risk groups pay annual fees
Qualifying Utah captive risk retention groups pay an annual fee equal to 2% of gross written premiums. The fee cannot exceed $200,000 each year. It applies to groups formed in Utah as corporations or other limited liability entities under the federal Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986.
Captives need approval for surplus investments
For captives other than risk retention groups, excess surplus means assets above 120% of required minimum capital plus an actuarial reserve estimate. Investing that excess surplus outside authorized investment classes requires the commissioner's prior written approval.
Insurers must cover examination costs promptly
The commissioner can hire qualified outside specialists and use their examinations alongside or instead of other examination work. Examined insurers, rate service organizations, their subsidiaries, and life settlement providers must pay reasonable examination costs. Examinees also pay specified contractor compensation and approved necessary expenses. Payment is due 10 days after the commissioner directs the examinee to pay the invoice.
Insurers must file quarterly financial reports
Each authorized insurer must file financial reports within 45 days after each of the first three calendar quarters. Reports go to the Utah Insurance Commissioner and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. At least two principal officers must verify each report under oath. Reports must cover financial condition, transactions, and affairs, using the form and information required by commissioner rules.
Risk retention groups face reporting rules
Utah-formed risk retention groups organized under the federal Liability Risk Retention Act are classified as captive insurers. Federally created risk retention groups are removed from the industrial insured group definition. Groups doing business in Utah follow the Risk Retention Groups Act when the captive chapter does not address an issue. Risk retention groups replace industrial insured captives as the entities expressly subject to Section 31A-4-113.5 reporting. Their certificate-of-authority submissions no longer receive the stated confidentiality protection.
Claims administrators need not advance unfunded payments
Health claims law does not require third-party administrators to pay unfunded client claims using their own money. This limit applies while the entity responsible for funding the claims has not provided the money. It does not itself require patients to pay those claims.
Captive insurers get alternate filing deadlines
A captive insurer can request an alternative reporting date from the Utah Insurance Commissioner. With approval, its annual report is due 60 days after its fiscal year ends. Its annual audit is due six months after that fiscal year ends.
Insurance examination costs gain relief and enforcement
The insurance department can pay some or all examination costs when charging them creates an unreasonable burden and funds are available. The commissioner can act on request or independently, considering examination frequency or the examined entity's finances. Unpaid examination costs can be collected from that entity's statutory deposit. Insurance Code deposits go first toward an insurer's unpaid examination costs; an ordered deposit release requires a hearing.
Insurer ownership brings relief and limits
Utah laws for domestic insurance organizations generally do not extend to their foreign parents, except under insurance holding-company rules. The law removes a civil penalty of up to $20,000 per violation for officers and directors knowingly involved in specified holding-company violations. When noncompliant insurer acquisitions lead to forced securities sales, sellers receive proceeds only up to their original purchase cost. Extra proceeds go to Utah's General Fund. Mutual insurer and mutual holding-company member dividends follow Section 31A-5-420, not the usual policyholder-dividend rules.
Insurers face different single-risk limits
Insurers authorized in Utah generally cannot risk a loss above 10% of their capital and surplus on one risk. An exception applies to assessable mutual insurers. The limit excludes title, workers' compensation, occupational disease, employers' liability, and health insurance. Beginning May 6, 2026, the law also repeals the separate title insurance single-risk limit without setting a replacement.
Pure captives get risk-based capital minimums
Pure captive insurers not acting as pools that distribute risk for other captives receive a different capital rule. They must hold unimpaired paid-in capital and surplus equal to the greater of $50,000 or 20% of total aggregate risk. This replaces the otherwise applicable $250,000 minimum. The required amount depends on the insurer's total risk.
Risk groups face capital and investment rules
Industrial insured captive insurers and risk retention groups must hold at least $700,000 in unimpaired paid-in capital and surplus. Risk retention groups must follow Utah insurance investment requirements. The commissioner can approve alternative reliable valuation and rating methods. The commissioner can also prohibit or limit investments threatening a group's ability to pay obligations or access cash. Captive insurers other than risk retention groups remain exempt from authorized investment-class restrictions.
Ambulance plan sellers face tailored oversight
Utah includes ambulance memberships in its limited health plan rules. Membership organizations are plan sellers, not ambulance service providers, and must get a state certificate of authority. They can offer only ambulance membership plans, not other benefits. They are exempt from limited health plan deposits and, when they follow Chapter 8, from Section 31A-4-113.5 requirements.
Ambulance plans face stronger financial oversight
Chapter 8 ambulance membership organizations must hold reserves in separate, auditable accounts at commissioner-approved financial institutions, free of other claims. Reserves must cover at least 20% of gross earned fee income from active Utah contracts sold or renewed beginning May 6, 2026. Organizations also need bonds of at least $5,000 per 100 Utah-resident members, plus any additional securities required by commissioner rules. They must pay collection costs after a member wins a judgment and attorney fees when a member wins a case. Complete annual renewal reports are due at least 90 days before certificates expire; incomplete reports block renewal and Utah business until a new application is approved.
Health organizations report quality and face audits
Covered health organizations must prepare annual quality-control reports in a state-approved form, certified and signed by two officers. The insurance commissioner can order an audit at any time. Qualified, designated auditors can review organization and provider records, including patient medical records. Medical-record information cannot be used to identify a person. Audit materials are legally protected except in commissioner hearings about alleged chapter violations.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
James A. Dunnigan
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Evan J. Vickers
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 3/2/2026
House/ concurs with Senate amendment
Yes: 68 • No: 1
Senate vote • 2/27/2026
Senate/ uncircled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/27/2026
Senate/ passed 3rd reading
Yes: 24 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/25/2026
Senate/ uncircled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/25/2026
Senate/ circled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/25/2026
Senate/ substituted
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/20/2026
Senate/ circled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/19/2026
Senate/ passed 2nd reading
Yes: 22 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/18/2026
Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 8 • No: 0
House vote • 2/6/2026
House/ passed 3rd reading
Yes: 63 • No: 1
House vote • 2/6/2026
House/ uncircled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
House vote • 2/5/2026
House/ circled
Yes: 0 • No: 0
House vote • 1/27/2026
House Comm - Favorable Recommendation
Yes: 11 • No: 0
House vote • 1/27/2026
House Comm - Substitute Recommendation
Yes: 11 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Governor Signed
3/17/2026House/ to Governor
3/12/2026HouseHouse/ received enrolled bill from Printing
3/12/2026HouseHouse/ enrolled bill to Printing
3/4/2026HouseEnrolled Bill Returned to House or Senate
3/4/2026Draft of Enrolled Bill Prepared
3/4/2026Bill Received from House for Enrolling
3/4/2026House/ signed by Speaker/ sent for enrolling
3/3/2026HouseHouse/ received from Senate
3/3/2026HouseSenate/ to House
3/2/2026SenateSenate/ signed by President/ returned to House
3/2/2026SenateSenate/ received from House
3/2/2026SenateHouse/ to Senate
3/2/2026HouseHouse/ concurs with Senate amendment
3/2/2026HouseHouse/ placed on Concurrence Calendar
2/27/2026HouseHouse/ received from Senate
2/27/2026HouseSenate/ to House with amendments
2/27/2026SenateSenate/ passed 3rd reading
2/27/2026SenateSenate/ uncircled
2/27/2026SenateSenate/ circled
2/25/2026SenateSenate/ substituted
2/25/2026SenateSenate/ uncircled
2/25/2026SenateSenate/ circled
2/20/2026SenateSenate/ 3rd reading
2/20/2026SenateSenate/ passed 2nd reading
2/19/2026Senate
Bill Text
Enrolled
3/4/2026
Substitute #2
2/25/2026
Substitute #1
1/27/2026
Introduced
12/22/2025