When Nevada Senate Bill 308 takes effect on July 1, auto insurance premiums will go up for about one-third of Nevada vehicle owners, according to data from the Nevada Division of Insurance.
Signed by the governor on June 1, 2017, the new law increases the minimum required liability coverage from $15,000 per person for bodily injury, $30,000 per accident for bodily injury and $10,000 per accident for property damage (15/30/10) to $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $20,000 per accident for property damage (25/50/20).
In 2017, the Nevada Division of Insurance estimated that 32 percent of the auto insurance policies in the state were below the 25/50/20 limits.
“While this new law isn’t going into effect until July, the division has already received and approved filings from insurance companies with the new minimum vehicle liability limits,” Insurance Commissioner Barbara Richardson said in a news release. “This means some companies may have already begun to implement this new requirement for their policyholders when they renew their policies or when they write new business.”
The American Insurance Association, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America opposed the measure before it passed. In a March 2017 letter to the Nevada Senate Committee on Transportation, the trade association said the bill was “unnecessary” and would increase insurance rates for drivers “who can least afford it,” potentially forcing those drivers to drop their coverage, “thereby increasing Nevada’s already high uninsured motorist rate.”