The Oklahoma Insurance coverage Division (OID) has issued Bulletin No. 2025-07, outlining a number of vital legislative modifications that can take impact on November 1, 2025. These updates, present in Home Invoice 1084 and Home Invoice 1501, introduce new restrictions and necessities that can have an effect on property insurance coverage claims and public adjuster compensation.
For individuals who work on behalf of policyholders, together with public adjusters, restoration professionals, and attorneys, it’s vital to grasp how these new legal guidelines might alter the claims panorama in Oklahoma.
Home Invoice 1084 – Restrictions on Put up-Loss Assignments
Home Invoice 1084 creates a brand new statute, 36 O.S. § 1230(B), which prohibits the project of post-loss insurance coverage advantages for property injury underneath auto, residential, or business property insurance coverage insurance policies.
Briefly, no particular person might solicit or settle for an project of post-loss insurance coverage advantages. Any such settlement can be thought-about towards public coverage and due to this fact void and unenforceable.
The legislation does enable a couple of restricted exceptions. Assignments made to a federally insured monetary establishment, mortgagee, or subsequent purchaser of the property are nonetheless legitimate. The identical applies to assignments involving legal responsibility protection underneath an auto or property coverage.
What this implies: Contractors and mitigation corporations which have historically labored underneath project of advantages (AOB) contracts will not be capable of pursue cost instantly from insurers. Policyholders themselves will now have to stay the named celebration asserting the declare. This modification successfully ends the AOB mannequin for many property claims in Oklahoma. These modifications may even require policyholders to bear the burden of expending the monies associated surprising mitigation prices and making repairs whereas ready for insurers to pay claims. Below the AOB mannequin, many contractors entrance these bills whereas the insurers decide what’s owed. With out the AOB, these similar contractors should not more likely to finance the “claims” course of. The insured would be the celebration harmed and you’ll count on a pointy improve in contractors inserting liens on properties whereas insurers delay claims whereas arguing over what’s or what is just not affordable. In states which have handed related laws, we have now seen a rise in lawsuits by contractors towards insureds instantly associated to insurers’ failure to pay or well timed consider complicated mitigation claims, together with hurricanes in Florida.
Home Invoice 1501 – Payment Cap for Public Adjusters Working with Authorities Entities
Home Invoice 1501 establishes 36 O.S. § 6224, a brand new legislation limiting what public adjusters can cost when representing political subdivisions and public businesses as outlined underneath 51 O.S. § 152.
Below the brand new rule, the overall compensation to a public adjuster, together with commissions, bills, and some other prices, can’t exceed 10% of the insurance coverage settlement quantity.
In sensible phrases: This cover applies solely when the insured is a governmental entity, similar to a metropolis, county, or faculty district. Adjusters who deal with claims for personal policyholders should not affected. Nonetheless, when coping with public entities, contracts and billing buildings might want to adjust to the brand new 10% restrict.