Residential property insurance images.

The requirement that insurers notify policyholders at least 30 days before aerial images will be taken is removed. Insurers now only need to notify that images 'will may be taken or obtained' without a specific advance timing requirement.

The maximum age of an aerial image that can be used in a decision without additional verification is increased from 45 days to 180 days (6 months). This significantly relaxes the freshness requirement, allowing insurers to rely on much older imagery before being required to verify conditions.

Insurers may now use an 'alternative verification process' in addition to or instead of an in-person physical inspection to verify that conditions shown in aerial images are accurate, persistent, and valid. The old version only permitted in-person inspections.

Electronic notice provisions are simplified: the old version required electronic notice to be provided 'in addition to' the mailed notice, while the new version simply allows insurers to provide notice to the policyholder's email address without explicitly requiring a mailed copy as well.

Protections are expanded from covering only 'adverse underwriting decisions' to also explicitly cover 'decisions to terminate insurance coverage.' This means the image freshness limits, verification rights, and remediation opportunities now apply to termination decisions as well.

Policyholders gain an explicit right to 'dispute the accuracy of the image' used in a decision to cancel, nonrenew, or reduce coverage, in addition to the existing right to remedy conditions.

The definition of 'receive' (earliest of delivery date on mail receipt or two business days after postmark) is removed from the bill.

The bill now covers any aerial images 'taken or obtained' of the insured property during the policy period, rather than only images taken by unmanned aircraft (drones). This expands coverage to satellite imagery and other aerial sources.

Insurers must provide the aerial imaging notice at least annually, including with initial policy issuance and upon each renewal, on a separate page from all other notices, information, or disclosures.

The notice must include specific language in at least 14-point bold font informing policyholders of their rights to request images, receive them with adverse decisions, request in-person inspections, and remedy conditions before a decision takes effect.

Insurers are prohibited from basing an adverse underwriting decision (cancel, nonrenew, or reduce coverage) on an aerial image taken more than 45 days before sending the notice, unless the conditions have been verified as accurate, persistent, and valid by an in-person physical inspection conducted within the same 45-day window.

If an insurer bases an adverse underwriting decision on an aerial image, that image must be provided to the policyholder along with the notice of the decision.

Insurers must give policyholders the opportunity to remedy the conditions underlying an adverse underwriting decision before its effective date, with verification through in-person inspection or other evidence set forth by the insurer.

The requirement to provide aerial images upon request now includes a 30-day deadline for the insurer to respond to the policyholder's request.

Policyholders subject to an adverse underwriting decision based on an aerial image may request an in-person physical inspection of the property to verify the accuracy, persistence, and validity of the conditions shown in the image.

A new definition of 'adverse underwriting decision' is added, incorporating the meaning from Insurance Code Section 791.02.

The specific definition of 'unmanned aircraft' (referencing Government Code Section 853.5) was removed, consistent with the broader shift away from drone-specific language.

The bill's protections are narrowed from applying to all 'adverse underwriting decisions' (a broad term covering cancellation, nonrenewal, and reduction of coverage) to only 'decisions to terminate insurance coverage.' This means insurers can still use aerial images for nonrenewal or coverage reduction decisions without the notice, image-provision, and dispute requirements this bill imposes.

The maximum age of an aerial image that can be used in a termination decision is increased from 45 days to 180 days. Insurers can now rely on images up to six months old rather than only six weeks old, unless verified by a more recent in-person inspection or alternative verification process.

A new provision allows a policyholder, at their sole discretion, to use a process made available by the insurer other than an in-person physical inspection to verify the accuracy, persistence, and validity of conditions shown in the aerial image.

The policyholder's right to 'remedy the conditions' shown in an aerial image before the effective date of the decision is removed from the statutory text. The insurer is now only required to provide the opportunity to 'dispute the accuracy of the image,' not to fix the underlying problem.

An operative date of July 1, 2026 is added, specifying when the new section takes effect.

The bill's scope expanded from requiring notice only when an 'unmanned aircraft' will be used to take images, to requiring notice whenever 'aerial images' will be taken of the insured property. This now covers satellite imagery and other aerial collection methods beyond just drones.

A new definition for 'aerial image' was added: an image or video collected by aircraft or satellite, whether or not that aircraft or satellite is operated with the possibility of direct human intervention. The prior 'unmanned aircraft' definition (cross-referencing Government Code Section 853.5) was removed.

The exception for properties with a submitted or pending claim now includes an additional condition: aerial images taken in that context must be used only for the purpose of evaluating the submitted or pending claim. The original version had no such limitation on how claim-related images could be used.

Electronic notice requirements were tightened. The original allowed insurers to optionally provide notice via email. The amendment requires that the policyholder have agreed to transact business electronically under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Civil Code Title 2.5) before electronic notice may be sent, and it must be provided in addition to (not instead of) the mailed notice.