Louisiana Mandates Premium Discounts for FORTIFIED Homes by 2027

Louisiana has mandated premium discounts for property insurers covering FORTIFIED homes, with compliance required by January 1, 2027. The Louisiana Department of Insurance issued Bulletin 2026-04 on April 29, 2026, alerting property and casualty insurers and producers about the implementation of Regulation 136, which focuses on these discounts.

Insurers must offer premium reductions to residential properties recognized as FORTIFIED according to the standards set by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS). The discounts must follow a specific discount benchmark table developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tailored for Louisiana. The relevant benchmark data is accessible at ldi.la.gov/fortifiedbenchmarks.

The NAIC's Catastrophe Risk Management Center of Excellence analyzed typical Louisiana single-family homes under various mitigation levels using two hurricane catastrophe models: Verisk and Moody's. They calculated regional loss outputs and adjusted them to reflect insurers' costs based on publicly available homeowner rate filings from Louisiana. This methodology enables the conversion of modeled reductions in expected hurricane losses into premium discounts as shown in the benchmark table.

This bulletin, updated and signed by Commissioner Timothy J. Temple, applies to all new or renewed residential property insurance policies from January 2027. Insurers and producers face the task of adjusting rating systems, underwriting processes, and customer documents to incorporate the mandated discounts. Producers will play a key role in explaining these discounts to clients with FORTIFIED homes.

For inquiries, contact the Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Property and Casualty at 225-342-5203 or via email at [email protected].