What changed in US car insurance law

Most guides are written once and left alone, so repealed programs and retired forms keep circulating for years after the law dropped them. This is every change we have recorded — 163 of them across 50 states and DC — with the statute or session law behind each one.

Subscribe by RSS · How we check this

Passed, not yet in force

These are law already — a legislature has enacted them — but the date they take effect has not arrived. The state pages still show the rule in force today and switch on their own the morning each one lands.

November 1, 2026 · Oklahoma
Crash reporting
Crash reporting threshold jumps tenfold, from $300 to $3,000
HB 4143 (2026) amends 47 O.S. § 10-108 to raise the damage figure that obliges a driver to send a written collision report to the Department of Public Safety from $300 to $3,000, and adds a flat exemption: no report is required where all parties agree to exchange information and there is no injury, no death and no damage to property other than the vehicles. The same act raises the threshold for an investigating officer's own report under 47 O.S. § 40-102 from $500 to $3,000. Until November 1, 2026 the old $300 and $500 figures still govern. The six-month rule is untouched — the driver's report is owed only if the collision has not been settled within six months of the date it happened.
Oklahoma Legislature — HB 4143 (2026), enrolled
January 1, 2027 · Louisiana
Moving here
Safety inspection sticker ends for ordinary vehicles (enacted, not yet in force)
Act 701 of 2026 (HB 1085) rewrites R.S. 32:1304 so that only commercial vehicles, covered farm vehicles rated over 26,000 pounds and student transportation vehicles must be inspected, plus vehicles registered in the five emissions parishes. A Louisiana Vehicle Identification Program sticker carrying the VIN, capped at $6 a year, replaces the brake tag. The Act already bars any citation for failing to produce or display an inspection certificate between June 30, 2026 and January 1, 2027. For the five emissions parishes the change takes effect only if and when the EPA adopts the state implementation plan amendments submitted by the Department of Environmental Quality; for every other parish it takes effect January 1, 2027.
Louisiana State Legislature — Acts 2026, No. 701 (HB 1085), enrolled
March 1, 2027 · Iowa
Crash reporting
Crash reporting threshold rises to $5,000 — and an uninsured driver must report every crash
SF 2088 of 2026, signed May 19, 2026, raises the property damage figure in Iowa Code § 321.266(2) from $1,500 to $5,000, and raises the same figure in § 321A.5(1), which is what triggers a suspension when an uninsured driver is in a crash. It also adds a rule that has no counterpart in the old law: if the vehicle carried no financial liability coverage, the crash must be reported whatever the damage and whether or not anyone was hurt. Division II applies from March 1, 2027, or earlier if the DOT director certifies in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin that the new records system is running.
2026 Iowa Acts, SF 2088, Division II (§§ 9, 11, 13) — enrolled text
April 1, 2027 · Rhode Island
Minimum coverage
Insurers must offer underinsured motorist property damage coverage (enacted, not yet in force)
P.L. 2026, ch. 388 (H 7520 Substitute A) and ch. 389 (S 2633 Substitute A), both enacted June 19, 2026, add a new subsection (c) to R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-7-2.1 requiring every insurer to offer underinsured motorist property damage coverage for private passenger automobiles, and letting it be offered together with uninsured motorist property damage coverage. Buying it stays optional — no insured is obligated to purchase it, and an insured without collision coverage may reject it in writing. The act also splits the old definition of "uninsured motorist" into separate definitions of underinsured motorist bodily injury and underinsured motorist property damage. It takes effect on April 1, 2027; nothing about the 25/50/25 liability minimums changes.
Rhode Island General Assembly — Public Law 2026, ch. 388
July 1, 2027 · Tennessee
Driving uninsured
Uninsured-vehicle registration fees rise from $25/$100 to $500/$1,000 (enacted, not yet in force)
Public Chapter 1077 (2026, SB 1667) raises the Department of Revenue's coverage failure fee from $25 to $500 and the continued coverage failure fee from $100 to $1,000, adds a $1,500 fee with registration suspension for a repeat lapse within three years, requires proof of insurance valid for at least 30 days at initial registration, and moves insurers to weekly reporting to the verification system. It also caps noneconomic damages at $375,000 ($750,000 if catastrophic) for an uninsured vehicle owner who had received three noncompliance notices in the three years before a crash. The act's new 30-day proof-of-insurance requirement at first registration is itself repealed on June 30, 2029.
Tennessee Public Chapter 1077 (2026)
October 1, 2027 · District of Columbia
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability goes from 25/50/10 to 50/100/20 (enacted, not yet in force)
The Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Amendment Act of 2026 doubles the District's mandatory limits: third-party personal liability from $25,000 / $50,000 to $50,000 / $100,000, and property damage liability from $10,000 to $20,000. Mandatory uninsured motorist coverage moves the same way, from 25/50 and $5,000 of property damage to 50/100 and $20,000. The limits had not moved since the Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act of 1982 took effect. The act cleared the 30-day period of Congressional review and became effective August 14, 2026, but by its own terms it applies only as of October 1, 2027, so a policy written today still carries 25/50/10. From January 1, 2037 the limits step up again every ten years — $5,000 more per person, $10,000 more per accident and $2,000 more for property damage each time — with the Commissioner publishing notice at least 12 months ahead, and the Commissioner must report to the Council on the effect on premiums by December 31, 2030 and again by December 31, 2032.
D.C. Law 26-155 — Motor Vehicle Insurance Modernization Amendment Act of 2026
October 1, 2027 · District of Columbia
Minimum coverage
Enhanced underinsured motorist coverage becomes the default (enacted, not yet in force)
The same 2026 act adds enhanced underinsured motorist protection to every private passenger policy unless the first named insured signs an affirmative written waiver on a form the Commissioner prescribes, which must explain the coverage's nature, extent, benefit and cost in at least 12-point boldface. Enhanced coverage pays its full limit without being reduced by what the at-fault driver's insurer already paid, unlike the traditional underinsured motorist coverage the District has offered as an option. An insured may not hold both at once, the enhanced limit cannot exceed the policy's uninsured motorist limit, and a policy issued on or after the applicability date may not force an underinsured motorist dispute into binding arbitration. The act also drops the existing carve-out that excused insurers from offering underinsured coverage on motorcycles and motor-driven cycles.
D.C. Law 26-155 § 2(a)(6) — new D.C. Code § 31-2406(f-1)

2026

October 1, 2026 · Florida
Crash reporting
Crash reporting threshold rises from $500 to $2,000
SB 488 (ch. 2026-39), approved April 21, 2026, amended s. 316.065(1) to raise the apparent property damage that obliges a driver to notify law enforcement of a crash from $500 to $2,000. Guides still quoting $500 describe the rule that applies only to crashes before October 1, 2026.
Laws of Florida ch. 2026-39 (SB 488)
October 1, 2026 · North Carolina
Driving uninsured
Response window for an insurance lapse notice goes from 10 days to 30
An owner who receives a liability insurance termination notice from NCDMV currently has 10 days from the date printed on the notice to respond. NCDMV states that effective October 1, 2026 the window becomes 30 days. Missing the deadline still means a civil penalty plus revocation of the vehicle's registration.
NCDMV
September 30, 2026 · New Hampshire
Moving here
Vehicle emissions testing repealed
RSA 266:59-b, the statute behind New Hampshire's OBD II emissions test, was repealed by the 2025 budget act (2025, 141:253, XIV). Section 255 of that act set the effective date at September 30, 2026, or earlier if the Department of Environmental Services certified that EPA had approved the related state implementation plan amendment. Because emissions testing was a required element of New Hampshire's federally approved Clean Air Act plan, the state also petitioned EPA under CAA section 176A to be removed from the Ozone Transport Region — the first state to seek complete removal.
RSA 266:59-b — Emission Control Equipment (repealed by 2025, 141:253, XIV; effective date set by 2025, 141:255)
September 22, 2026 · Alaska
SR-22
An unpaid crash judgment no longer means an SR-22 for life
Until this year, AS 28.20.330(b) said that a driver suspended for an unsatisfied crash judgment had to keep proof of financial responsibility on file "during the period the person has a license or nonresident's operating privilege" — in practice, forever. SB 239 (ch. 39 SLA 2026), signed June 24, 2026, replaced that with a ladder: one year from the date the judgment is stayed or satisfied for a first suspension, three years for a second, 10 years for a third, and only on a fourth or later suspension does the filing run for as long as the person is licensed. The Act applies to suspensions that happened before as well as after it took effect, and it orders every insurance company doing business in Alaska to notify affected customers within six months. Section 3 carried no effective-date clause, so under AS 01.10.070(b) it took effect at 12:01 a.m. on the ninetieth day after signature, September 22, 2026. The Alaska Statutes text published on akleg.gov still shows the old lifetime wording, so the enrolled bill is the only place the current rule can be read.
Enrolled SB 239 (ch. 39 SLA 2026), secs. 3, 5, 6 — Alaska State Legislature
August 28, 2026 · Missouri
Moving here
Farm trucks older than 10 years exempted from emissions testing
SB 1033 exempts vehicles registered as farm trucks and more than 10 years old from vehicle emissions requirements. The Gateway Vehicle Inspection Program still covers other vehicles registered in St. Louis City and St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties.
Missouri Department of Revenue
July 18, 2026 · Nebraska
Crash reporting
The crash reporting threshold went from $1,500 to $2,000 — and the same number decides whether the DMV suspends your license
LB1126 (2026) raised the apparent-damage figure from one thousand five hundred dollars to two thousand dollars in four places at once, effective July 18, 2026: § 60-699, the driver's duty to report a crash to the Department of Transportation within ten days; § 60-695, the investigating officer's duty to file a report; § 60-507, the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act suspension the DMV must impose on an operator who gives no proof of financial responsibility after a crash; and § 60-513, the floor on the security deposit the department may demand. The threshold therefore does two jobs, and both moved together — it is the line above which a crash must be reported, and the line above which failing to show coverage costs a Nebraskan the license. The DMV's Accident Suspensions page now prints both numbers side by side, $1,500 for crashes before July 18, 2026 and $2,000 on or after, which is the clearest sign that guides still quoting $1,500 are describing crashes that happened last year.
2026 LB1126, final reading — an act relating to law; to amend sections ... 60-507, 60-513, 60-695 ... and 60-699
July 18, 2026 · Nebraska
SR-22
Paper SR-22 filings are on the way out — from July 1, 2027 only an electronic transmission counts
LB972 (2026) rewrote § 60-529 into two timed halves. Until July 1, 2027 proof of financial responsibility may still be furnished either by filing the insurer's written certificate with the department or by electronic transmission of that certificate. Beginning July 1, 2027 the written option disappears: proof "shall be furnished by electronic transmission of a certificate by an insurance carrier, duly authorized to do business in this state". The certificate itself keeps the name the statute has used since LB911 (2004) put it there — Nebraska is one of the few states where "SR-22 certificate" appears in the statute book rather than only on agency forms. The practical effect falls on drivers with out-of-state or small carriers: the DMV already refuses faxed and photocopied filings, and after July 1, 2027 a carrier that cannot transmit electronically cannot file at all. The same act also amended § 60-3,167, the uninsured-driving offense, but those edits were stylistic — the Class II misdemeanor, the suspension of license, registration and plates, the ten-day window to produce proof, and the three-year filing period are all unchanged.
2026 LB972, final reading — an act relating to motor vehicles; to amend sections ... 60-3,167 ... and 60-529
July 15, 2026 · Kentucky
Minimum coverage
No-fault benefits got their first real increase since 1974 — $500 a week instead of $200
2026 Ky. Acts ch. 149 (HB 627), which became law without the Governor's signature on April 14, 2026 and took effect July 15, 2026, rewrote three sections of the Motor Vehicle Reparations Act. KRS 304.39-130 now caps work loss, survivor's economic loss, replacement services loss and survivor's replacement services loss at five hundred dollars ($500) a week, up from the two hundred dollars ($200) set in 1974. Inside the definition of medical expense in KRS 304.39-020, the allowance for funeral, cremation and burial charges rose from $1,000 to $5,000. The same Act capped each medical charge a reparation obligor pays at the workers' compensation fee schedule established under KRS 342.035 — with a floor at the schedule in effect on July 15, 2026 — gave providers 180 days to submit a charge, and barred them from balance billing the insured or reporting the balance to credit bureaus. What did not change is the figure most guides quote: the overall ceiling on basic reparation benefits is still $10,000 per person per accident. Section 7 of the Act limits all of this to basic and added reparation benefits issued or renewed on or after July 15, 2026, so a policy written before that date keeps the old $200 weekly limit until it renews.
2026 Ky. Acts ch. 149 (HB 627) — enrolled text, Legislative Research Commission
July 1, 2026 · South Dakota
Coverage lapse
Getting your license back after an insurance suspension went from $50 to $75 on July 1, 2026
For forty years SDCL § 32-35-47.1 carried its own number: anyone suspended under the financial responsibility chapter paid "a license fee of fifty dollars" to the Department of Public Safety before reinstatement. Senate Bill 11 of 2026, signed February 13 and effective July 1, deleted that figure and replaced it with a cross-reference to subsection 32-12-47.1(1)(f), the catch-all tier of the general driver license reinstatement schedule. That tier is $75, because Senate Bill 3 of 2025 had already rebuilt § 32-12-47.1 the year before, raising the base reinstatement fee from $50 to $75 and every offense-specific tier with it, and pushing the driver license application fee from $28 to $38 at the same time. The practical effect is that between July 1, 2025 and July 1, 2026 South Dakota charged two different reinstatement fees depending on which statute your suspension came from — $50 under chapter 32-35, $75 under chapter 32-12 — and the 2026 act closed that gap. A driver reinstating after a no-insurance conviction today pays $75 plus the $38 application fee, and the department's published range for all reinstatements is $75 to $225. The same 2026 act also raised the fee for a certified abstract of a driving record under § 32-35-101 from $5 to $7.
2026 Senate Bill 11, enrolled — An Act to increase reinstatement fees and abstract driver record fees (SL 2026, ch 140; signed February 13, 2026)
July 1, 2026 · South Dakota
Driving uninsured
A no-insurance suspension no longer means you may drive only to work
Until July 1, 2026, SDCL § 32-35-122 restricted a driver suspended for failing to maintain financial responsibility to "driving to and from the person's employment and to driving that is required in the person's course of employment" — nothing else. House Bill 1013 of 2026, signed March 3, rewrote the section so the judge must now permit operation of a motor vehicle for employment, child care delivery or pickup, health appointments, or attendance at school, court, probation appointments, 24/7 sobriety testing, counseling programs, treatment, or aftercare. The same act made the parallel change to § 32-12-52.3, the restricted privilege available after a drug conviction committed in a vehicle, so that the two lists now read alike. Two things did not change: the judge's duty to impose a suspension of thirty days to one year on conviction, and the requirement that the driver establish one of the forms of financial responsibility in § 32-35-113 before driving under the restriction and maintain it for the whole restricted period. Guides that still describe a South Dakota no-insurance suspension as work-only are describing the law as it stood before this summer.
2026 House Bill 1013, enrolled — An Act to clarify the purposes permitted for certain offenders to operate a motor vehicle (SL 2026, ch 133; signed March 3, 2026)
July 1, 2026 · Vermont
Moving here
Loud motorcycle exhausts now fail the annual inspection
Act 153 of 2026 (S.326) added 23 V.S.A. § 1260, effective July 1, 2026. A motorcycle on a Vermont highway must have a muffler, and it fails the inspection required by § 1222 if the internal baffles are missing or removed, if the system has a cutout or bypass, if it has been modified to bypass the muffler, if the muffler does not meet 40 C.F.R. § 205.169, or if it is a straight pipe. Where the muffler's position makes the compliance label unreadable, the mechanic must presume it complies. The same act made the only other 2026 change to § 1222, exempting limited-use specialty vehicles registered under § 375 from the OBD portion while leaving them the annual safety and visual emissions check. The Commissioner is directed to amend the Inspection of Motor Vehicles rules (CVR 14-050-022) accordingly.
2025 Acts and Resolves No. 153 (S.326), Secs. 25, 29, 30, 31 — An act relating to miscellaneous amendments to laws relating to motor vehicles
June 9, 2026 · Louisiana
Driving uninsured
Impoundment for no proof of insurance extended to out-of-state vehicles
Act 861 of 2026 (HB 999) amended R.S. 32:863.1(C)(1)(a) and (I)(1) to state that the impoundment, notice of noncompliance and due-process procedures apply to every motor vehicle operated on Louisiana highways, including vehicles registered in another state. Before this, out-of-state drivers who could not show proof received only a notice of noncompliance and a later fine.
Louisiana State Legislature — Acts 2026, No. 861 (HB 999), enrolled
June 3, 2026 · Hawaii
Moving here
Bringing a car in and not registering it now carries a $500 to $1,000 fine
Act 73 of 2026 (S.B. 2697) amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 286-61 to add a penalty aimed squarely at vehicles shipped in from the mainland: an owner who fails to register an out-of-state vehicle under § 286-41, § 286-50 or § 286-54 is fined not less than $500 and not more than $1,000 for each violation. Before this the general penalty section had no figure aimed at new arrivals. It took effect on June 3, 2026, so it is too new to appear in most guides.
Hawaii Act 73, SLH 2026 (S.B. 2697 SD1 HD2 CD1) — enrolled text
May 26, 2026 · New York
Fault system
Pure comparative negligence no longer applies to car crash claims
Part EE of the FY2027 budget bill (S.9008-C, signed as chapter 58 of 2026) added CPLR 1411(b): in a personal injury action subject to Insurance Law article 51 — New York's no-fault motor vehicle framework — a claimant whose culpable conduct is greater than the defendant's now recovers nothing. Pure comparative fault under CPLR 1411(a) survives for everything else. Guides that still describe New York as a flat pure comparative state are describing the law as it stood before May 26, 2026.
N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 1411 (NYS Open Legislation)
May 26, 2026 · New York
Fault system
The 90/180-day category was removed from the serious injury threshold
The same Part EE narrowed the definition of "serious injury" in Insurance Law § 5102(d). The category covering a medically determined non-permanent injury that prevented usual daily activities for 90 of the 180 days after the crash is gone. What remains is death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use, permanent consequential limitation, and significant limitation of use.
N.Y. Ins. Law § 5102(d) (NYS Open Legislation)
May 26, 2026 · New York
Fault system
Fault is decided first, and a $100,000 cap on pain and suffering was added
Insurance Law § 5104(a) now directs that the trier of fact shall not decide whether an injury is a serious injury until it has determined who was at fault. New § 5104(d) caps recovery for non-economic loss at $100,000 where the injured person was operating an uninsured vehicle, was driving while impaired and convicted, or was operating the vehicle in the commission of a felony and convicted.
N.Y. Ins. Law § 5104 (NYS Open Legislation)
May 6, 2026 · Utah
Coverage lapse
Driving without proof of insurance in the car went from an infraction to a class C misdemeanor
H.B. 24 (Laws of Utah 2026, chapter 382) repealed Utah Code § 41-12a-303.2 and folded the offense of failing to carry and display evidence of owner's or operator's security into § 41-12a-302, the no-insurance statute. The repealed section had graded that offense separately: an infraction for a first offense with a fine of not less than $400, and a class C misdemeanor only for a repeat within three years. Under the merged section every violation, including simply not producing proof on an officer's demand, is a class C misdemeanor carrying the same $400 fine floor, with up to $300 waivable if coverage is obtained before sentencing. The affirmative defense that coverage was actually in force survived the merger, as did the rule that an officer may not cite you when the Uninsured Motorist Identification Database shows the vehicle or driver is insured. The bill states its own effective date of May 6, 2026.
H.B. 24, Criminal Penalty Amendments, enrolled copy — Laws of Utah 2026, ch. 382
March 13, 2026 · Florida
Minimum coverage
PIP is still mandatory — the 2026 repeal bill died in committee
SB 522 (2026), which would have repealed the Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law and replaced PIP with a bodily injury liability requirement, died in Banking and Insurance on March 13, 2026; the House companion HB 769 died the same day. This is the third failed attempt: SB 54 (2021) passed both chambers and was vetoed on June 29, 2021, and HB 1181 (2025) died in committee. Personal injury protection remains compulsory under s. 627.733.
Florida Senate — SB 522 (2026)
March 9, 2026 · Wyoming
Driving uninsured
The 2026 budget session changed none of this — the limits, the penalties and the filing period all stand where they were
Wyoming's legislature meets in general session in odd-numbered years and in a budget session in even-numbered ones, so the 2026 budget session of the Sixty-eighth Legislature, whose last act was assigned a chapter number on March 9, 2026, was the most recent chance for anything here to move. It passed 107 acts. Reading each enrolled act for the sections that matter on this page, nothing touched them. Three acts came near and stopped short: Senate File 79 (Chapter 19), the sales and use tax reorganization, amended § 31-2-201(k) and (o)(ii), which govern dealer temporary permits and not the residency trigger in § 31-2-201(a)(iii); Senate File 107 (Chapter 54) created a new motor vehicle registration and plate issuance system in § 31-2-236 (new) and § 31-1-202 without disturbing what a registrant must certify; and Senate File 95 (Chapter 71) authorized third-party providers of driver license and motor vehicle services, adding § 31-1-205 and amending §§ 31-1-203 and 31-7-114, none of which carries an insurance duty.Under § 8-1-108 a Wyoming act with no stated date takes effect ninety days after the session adjourns; the next general session is in 2027.
Senate File 79 (2026), Enrolled Act No. 18, Senate, Chapter 19, Laws of Wyoming 2026 — enrolled bill, read together with the 2026 budget session enrolled acts
March 4, 2026 · District of Columbia
SR-22
STEER Act rewrote which convictions cost you your license and registration
The Strengthening Traffic Enforcement, Education, and Responsibility (STEER) Amendment Act of 2024 replaced D.C. Code §§ 50-1301.35, 50-1301.37 and 50-1301.38 with a clean list of triggering offenses — DUI, DUI in a commercial vehicle, operating while impaired, a homicide caused by striking someone with a vehicle, leaving after colliding, aggravated reckless driving, any felony committed using a motor vehicle, and out-of-District equivalents — and spelled out reinstatement for the first time: a full 6-month suspension, proof of financial responsibility, a $100 reinstatement fee, and ignition interlock or intelligent speed assistance enrollment where those apply. It also redefined proof of financial responsibility as simply proof that the vehicle is insured under the Compulsory/No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act. The act was effective April 20, 2024 but subject to funding; the STEER Clarification Temporary Amendment Act of 2026 made these particular changes apply as of March 4, 2026, with the ignition interlock condition following on January 1, 2027.
D.C. Law 25-161 § 3 — STEER Amendment Act of 2024
January 31, 2026 · New Hampshire
Moving here
Annual safety inspection repealed, then suspended amid litigation
The 2025 budget act (2025, 141:253) repealed RSA 266:1, 266:1-a, 266:1-b, 266:2 through 266:6 and 266:8, plus the inspection-station provisions in RSA 260:6-a and 260:6-b, ending New Hampshire's periodic motor vehicle inspection program on January 31, 2026. On January 27, 2026 a federal court ordered the state to keep the program running. The Executive Council then declined to extend the inspection vendor's contract, leaving no approved vendor, and on February 13, 2026 the Department of Safety suspended the program until further notice: stations may not issue inspection stickers and no vehicle is required to be inspected. The state has appealed to the First Circuit, so the status can change. Guides that still say New Hampshire requires an annual inspection are describing the law as it stood before 2026.
NH DMV — Inspections & Emissions (Vehicle Inspection Program Public Guidance, Feb. 13, 2026)
January 1, 2026 · Colorado
Minimum coverage
Auto policies must now pay to replace a child car seat
House Bill 25-1179 added C.R.S. § 10-4-644. An insurer that issues or renews a Colorado auto policy must include the replacement cost of a child restraint system that was in the vehicle during a crash, and must ask claimants whether one was. It applies to policies issued or renewed, and claims filed, on or after January 1, 2026. The governor signed it on April 17, 2025.
Colorado General Assembly — HB25-1179
January 1, 2026 · Hawaii
Minimum coverage
Hawaii doubled every liability minimum — 20/40/10 became 40/80/20
Part II of Act 138, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (S.B. 2342, S.D. 2, H.D. 3, C.D. 1) amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-301(b) to raise bodily injury liability from $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident to $40,000 and $80,000, and property damage liability from $10,000 to $20,000. Section 7 of the Act delayed part II to January 1, 2026, while the rest of the Act took effect July 1, 2024. Section 5 told the insurance commissioner to solicit rate filings by January 1, 2025, with filings due July 1, 2025, so that the rates matched the new limits for policies effective on or after January 1, 2026. The legislature's own finding was that the minimums "remained unamended for nearly twenty-five years". Any guide still printing 20/40/10 for Hawaii is quoting the figures that expired at the end of 2025; the Insurance Division's own FAQ now states 40/80/20 and warns drivers their premium may rise around 25 percent. The $10,000 personal injury protection minimum was not changed.
Act 138, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (S.B. 2342), §§ 3 and 7
January 1, 2026 · Louisiana
Fault system
Pure comparative fault replaced by a 51% bar
Act 15 of 2025 (HB 431) rewrote La. Civ. Code art. 2323. A claimant whose share of the negligence is 51% or more now recovers nothing; below that, damages are still reduced in proportion to that share. Louisiana had been one of the few pure comparative fault states, where a claimant 90% at fault could still collect 10% of the damages.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. Civ. Code art. 2323
January 1, 2026 · Louisiana
Coverage lapse
Lapse surcharges: the ban now covers only a first lapse of 90 days or less
Act 476 of 2025 (HB 496) rewrote R.S. 22:1284.1, and it cuts both ways. Before the rewrite an insurer could not surcharge for any lapse, and could not use a lapse in setting rates at all. Now the protection reaches only an insured's first lapse of 90 days or less; later lapses may be surcharged, and the clause barring insurers from considering a lapse when setting rates was deleted. The counterweight: once an insured holds continuous coverage for five or more years, the next lapse counts as a first lapse again. The Act also repealed the old carve-out that let insurers surcharge anyway after sending a written notice about surrendering the plate.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. R.S. 22:1284.1
January 1, 2026 · New Jersey
Minimum coverage
Liability minimums rise to 35/70/25
The second step of P.L.2022, c.87 raised bodily injury liability minimums to $35,000 per person and $70,000 per accident for Standard policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026. The uninsured/underinsured motorist minimums rose by the same amounts. Property damage stays at $25,000. Guides quoting 25/50/25 describe the 2023–2025 limits.
P.L.2022, c.87 (approved August 5, 2022)
January 1, 2026 · Oregon
Driving uninsured
Automatic one-year suspension for an uninsured crash repealed
SB 840 rewrote ORS 809.417(2). DMV no longer suspends a driver for a full year simply because the driver was in a crash while uninsured. A suspension now follows only if the driver fails to make a financial responsibility filing within 30 days of the crash, and it ends as soon as the filing is made. Guides that still promise a flat one-year suspension are describing the pre-2026 rule.
2025 Or. Laws ch. 415 (SB 840) § 44
January 1, 2026 · Oregon
SR-22
SR-22 after a driving-uninsured conviction cut from three years to one
SB 840 amended ORS 806.010(4) so that a person convicted of driving uninsured must file and maintain proof of financial responsibility for one year instead of three. The three-year term still applies to DUII filings under ORS 806.075, which also require higher limits of $50,000 / $100,000 / $10,000.
2025 Or. Laws ch. 415 (SB 840) §§ 43, 45
January 1, 2026 · South Carolina
Driving uninsured
Reinstatement fee for driving uninsured rises to $700
Section 56-10-520(D) sets a $600 base fee and lets the Department of Insurance re-set it each year in step with average private passenger auto rates. Order No. 2025-006 put the figure at $700 for calendar 2026. The owner of the uninsured vehicle pays it before any license, registration or plate is reissued; a driver who was not the owner pays $100 instead.
South Carolina Department of Insurance, Order No. 2025-006
January 1, 2026 · South Carolina
Fault system
Fault can now be apportioned to a non-party, and the alcohol exception is gone
2025 Act No. 42 (H. 3430) rewrote § 15-38-15 for causes of action arising after January 1, 2026. The trier of fact now allocates a percentage of fault to a non-defendant tortfeasor who is properly disclosed, and the carve-out that stripped joint and several protection from conduct "involving the use, sale, or possession of alcohol" was dropped — only wilful, wanton, reckless or intentional conduct, or illicit drug conduct, still triggers full joint and several liability.
S.C. Code § 15-38-15 (version effective January 1, 2026)

2025

October 1, 2025 · Alabama
Minimum coverage
Out-of-state vehicles lose their exemption and are judged by their home state's rules
Act 2025-345 (HB 148) tightened the Mandatory Liability Insurance Act for out-of-state vehicles. Until October 1, 2025, § 32-7A-5(a)(11) exempted a vehicle properly registered in another jurisdiction from the chapter altogether. The Act deleted that exemption and put a rule in its place: such a vehicle now satisfies Alabama law by meeting the insurance requirements of the state it is registered in, and may show that state's evidence of insurance at a stop (§§ 32-7A-4(b)(2), 32-7A-6(a)). The practical effect is not a relaxation but the opposite — an out-of-state vehicle that carries no insurance at all is no longer outside the chapter.
Alabama Legislature — Act 2025-345 (HB 148), enrolled
October 1, 2025 · Montana
Driving uninsured
The 2025 session rewrote wording in the mandatory insurance sections but changed no duty, penalty or limit
Montana's legislature holds a regular session only in odd-numbered years, so the 69th Legislature of 2025 was the most recent opportunity for anything here to move. Two of its acts reached into the mandatory insurance sections, and both were housekeeping. House Bill 43 (Chapter 23, Laws 2025), by request of the Transportation Interim Committee, revised traffic regulation laws for consistency and clarity; its Section 2 amended § 61-6-301 to point the phrase "ways of this state open to the public" at the relocated definition in § 61-8-102 instead of § 61-8-101, leaving the insurance duty otherwise word for word. House Bill 99 (Chapter 47, Laws 2025) reorganized motor vehicle definitions for readability, amending § 61-6-102 and § 61-6-302 among dozens of sections and repealing §§ 61-9-513, 61-9-514 and 61-9-519 as duplicative penalty provisions. Nothing in either act altered what a Montana driver must carry, produce or pay. Neither bill prescribed its own effective date, so under § 1-2-201(1)(a) both took effect October 1, 2025. Worth stating plainly because the dates invite the opposite inference: the minimum limits in § 61-6-103 were last amended in 2015, the penalties in § 61-6-304 in 2017, and the verification system in § 61-6-157 in 2019. The next regular session is in 2027.
House Bill 43 (2025), Chapter 23, Laws of Montana 2025 — enrolled bill
October 1, 2025 · Nevada
Coverage lapse
Insurance-verification notices can now arrive by email, not just mail
AB 20 (2025) rewrote NRS 485.317 so the DMV sends the request for information about liability coverage by electronic notification when the registered owner has signed up for it, and sends the notice of suspension by electronic notification as well as by certified mail or a delivery-confirmed mail service. The clocks did not change: 15 days to answer the request, then 10 days after the suspension notice before the registration is suspended. The practical effect is that a Nevada lapse notice can now land in an inbox, so guides that tell you to watch the mailbox are incomplete.
Nevada AB 20 (2025), enrolled — Chapter 10, Statutes of Nevada 2025
September 24, 2025 · Maine
Moving here
The new-resident reporting offense stopped being a crime
New residents still have 30 days to apply for a Maine license. Until 2025, failing that duty under 29-A M.R.S. § 1251(1-A) was a Class E crime once 90 days had passed. P.L. 2025, ch. 165 (L.D. 1411) struck the criminal paragraphs from § 1251(1-A), leaving a traffic infraction with a fine of $150 to $500 once the person has been a resident for at least 90 days. It does not clear the deck entirely: § 1251(1)(D) still makes it a Class E crime to drive without a Maine license after more than 90 days of residency, and that paragraph was not touched. Signed May 30, 2025, effective September 24, 2025.
P.L. 2025, ch. 165 (L.D. 1411), §1 — chaptered law
August 5, 2025 · Arkansas
Minimum coverage
Surplus lines insurance now counts as compulsory coverage and as proof of financial responsibility
Act 345 of 2025 (SB276) ran the phrase "or eligible" through the financial responsibility chapter. Arkansas Code § 27-22-104(a)(1)(B) now accepts a policy from an insurance company "authorized or eligible to do business in this state" as the compulsory liability coverage, and §§ 27-19-605, 27-19-712 and 27-19-713 were amended the same way so a surplus lines carrier's policy can also back a bond, a certificate of insurance filed with the Office of Driver Services, and the definition of a motor vehicle liability policy. The Act also widened the definition of "insurer" in the Arkansas Online Insurance Verification System Act (§ 27-22-202(4)) to match. The Governor approved it on March 20, 2025; it carries no emergency clause, so it took effect with the rest of the session's general acts 90 days after the General Assembly adjourned sine die. The governor signed it on 2025.03.20; with no emergency clause it took effect on 2025.08.05, ninety days after the session adjourned.
Arkansas State Legislature — Acts 2025, No. 345 (SB276), enrolled
August 1, 2025 · Louisiana
Driving uninsured
"No Pay, No Play" thresholds raised to $100,000
Act 16 of 2025 (HB 434) amended R.S. 32:866. An owner or operator who fails to carry the required liability security now recovers nothing for the first $100,000 of bodily injury and nothing for the first $100,000 of property damage, up from $15,000 and $25,000. The same figures govern the insurer's subrogation rights, and the $100,000 bodily injury figure also drives the court-costs rule in Subsection C. Guides still quoting $15,000/$25,000 are describing the pre-August 2025 law.
Louisiana State Legislature — Acts 2025, No. 16 (HB 434), enrolled
July 1, 2025 · Hawaii
Moving here
Safety inspection fee went to $25.75 — the first increase since 2017
The Hawaii Department of Transportation raised the periodic motor vehicle inspection fee by 75 cents effective July 1, 2025: $25.75 for automobiles and trucks and $17.75 for motorcycles and trailers. The replacement fee for a lost or destroyed sticker or certificate went from $6.34 to $7.09. HDOT continues to keep $1.70 of each fee for administration and enforcement, the program contractor's share rose from $1.34 to $2.09, and the inspection station keeps the rest. Roughly 1.2 million safety inspections are performed in Hawaii each year at about 500 permitted stations. Because the fee is set by rule under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 286-26(e) rather than by statute, it can move again after a public hearing without any legislation.
Hawaii Department of Transportation — Updates to motor vehicle safety inspection fees for 2025
July 1, 2025 · Massachusetts
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised from 20/40/5 to 25/50/30
Acts of 2024, chapter 275 raised the compulsory bodily injury limits from $20,000/$40,000 to $25,000/$50,000 and the property damage limit from $5,000 to $30,000, for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025. Uninsured motorist coverage follows the bodily injury limits, so it rose too. Guides that still quote 20/40/5 for Massachusetts are out of date.
Massachusetts General Court — Acts of 2024, Chapter 275
July 1, 2025 · North Carolina
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised from 30/60/25 to 50/100/50
S.L. 2023-133, as amended by S.L. 2024-29, raised the minimum limits for every policy issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 — from $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage, to $50,000 / $100,000 / $50,000. Guides that still print 30/60/25 are describing the pre-2025 law.
NC Department of Insurance
July 1, 2025 · North Carolina
Minimum coverage
Underinsured motorist coverage now included in every policy
The same legislation made underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage part of all new or renewed policies, alongside the uninsured motorist coverage North Carolina already required. G.S. 20-279.21(b)(4) now requires UIM in addition to the liability and uninsured motorist coverages, with limits matching the policy's own UM limits unless the insured chooses otherwise.
NC Department of Insurance
July 1, 2025 · Pennsylvania
Fault system
Accident surcharge threshold raised to $2,250
Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1799.3 a Pennsylvania auto insurer may not cancel, refuse to renew, surcharge, apply a rate penalty or assign driver record points when a policyholder's aggregate claim cost over three years stays under a threshold the Insurance Department sets. Notice 2025-01 raised that threshold from $2,100 to $2,250 effective July 1, 2025. Guides still quoting $2,100 or an older figure are out of date.
Pennsylvania Insurance Department Notice 2025-01, 55 Pa.B. 178
July 1, 2025 · Virginia
Crash reporting
Police crash-report threshold raised from $1,500 to $3,000
HB 2256 (2025 Acts ch. 255) amended § 46.2-373 so an investigating officer must send DMV a written report only when someone is injured or killed or apparent property damage reaches $3,000, up from $1,500.
Virginia LIS — 2025 Acts of Assembly ch. 255
July 1, 2025 · Wyoming
Crash reporting
The $1,000 crash-reporting threshold was deleted — property damage alone no longer makes a crash reportable
House Bill 25 of the 2025 general session (Enrolled Act No. 1, Chapter 1, Laws of Wyoming 2025, effective July 1, 2025) rewrote Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-1105 and § 31-5-1106(c). The enrolled bill strikes the words "in property damage to another or others to an apparent extent of at least one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or" from the driver's immediate-notice duty, and adds a new subsection (b) confining that duty to crashes resulting in injury to or death of any person, or property damage to the extent the vehicle "is so disabled as to prevent its normal and safe operation". The same act replaced the officer's $1,000 trigger in § 31-5-1106(c) with the disabled-vehicle test, and spelled out that a vehicle counts as disabled either at the scene or afterwards, when participants or witnesses tell the officer the vehicle is no longer operable. The practical result is that a Wyoming crash with a few thousand dollars of cosmetic damage and two drivable cars no longer has to be called in at all. The knock-on effect is easy to miss: § 31-9-202(a) starts the division's thirty-day clock to suspend the license and registrations of an uninsured driver or owner from the receipt of the investigating officer's report under §§ 31-5-1106 through 31-5-1108, so narrowing the report narrowed the uninsured-crash suspension along with it. Wyoming's own driver manual has not caught up: the 2021 edition still tells drivers to "contact the police if there is an injury, death or property damage amounting to $1,000 or more." The struck and inserted words were read in the enrolled bill, not in the current section text.
House Bill 25 (2025), Enrolled Act No. 1, House of Representatives, Chapter 1, Laws of Wyoming 2025 — enrolled bill
July 1, 2025 · Wyoming
Coverage lapse
You no longer hand back your driver license when a certified policy is canceled — only the registration goes
House Bill 23 of the 2025 general session (Enrolled Act No. 14, Chapter 9, Laws of Wyoming 2025, effective July 1, 2025) was Wyoming's move away from physically surrendering plastic. Its Section 1 amended Wyo. Stat. § 31-9-105, which until then was headed "Return of license and registration to division" and required any person "whose license or registration is suspended under this act, or whose policy of insurance or bond, when required under this act, is cancelled or terminated" to "immediately return his license and registration to the division". The enrolled bill struck every reference to the license: the section is now headed "Return of registration to division" and reaches only the registration, and the direction to a peace officer to confiscate now covers only the registration too. Section 2 of the act repealed § 31-7-131 outright, the section that had required a physical license to be surrendered on any cancellation, suspension or revocation and returned at the end of a suspension. The penalty in § 31-9-106(a) — a fine of up to $750 for willfully failing to return — survives, but now attaches only to the registration. What did not change: the $50 reinstatement fee in § 31-7-113(e), which the same act touched only to delete a cross-reference to the repealed § 31-7-131(c), and the ten days of advance notice an insurer owes the division under § 31-9-406 before a certified policy can stop.
House Bill 23 (2025), Enrolled Act No. 14, House of Representatives, Chapter 9, Laws of Wyoming 2025 — enrolled bill
June 27, 2025 · Kentucky
Coverage lapse
Monthly insurance reporting is being replaced by a live verification system, and a lapse will be spotted in seven days
2025 Ky. Acts ch. 39 (HB 390), effective June 27, 2025, rewrote KRS 186A.040 to require the Department of Vehicle Regulation to build an accessible online insurance verification system: operational and open to insurers by October 1, 2026, and accessible to courts, county clerks, prosecutors and law enforcement by January 1, 2027. Until then Kentucky runs on the old monthly reports, and an owner is notified only after the vehicle's VIN has been missing from the database for two consecutive reporting months. On and after January 1, 2027 the trigger becomes seven consecutive days. Either way the notice must state that the registration will be revoked unless proof of insurance reaches the county clerk or the department, or the system confirms coverage, within fourteen days after the date the insurance became invalid — a window the same Act cut from the thirty days the statute used to allow. The same Act extended the $40 registration reinstatement fee in KRS 186.040(8) to revocations under KRS 186A.040(5)(b) and earmarked the Cabinet's half of it for running the new system, and amended KRS 304.39-117 so that from January 1, 2027 the grace window for a newly acquired personal vehicle or a change of carriers shrinks from 45 days to 7.
2025 Ky. Acts ch. 39 (HB 390) — enrolled text, Legislative Research Commission
June 27, 2025 · Kentucky
Coverage lapse
The $40 registration reinstatement fee now reaches registrations revoked over an insurance lapse
2024 Ky. Acts ch. 123 (SB 199), section 23, created the fee on July 15, 2024: the owner of a vehicle whose registration has been canceled pays forty dollars ($40) to the county clerk, who keeps $20 and forwards $20 to the Transportation Cabinet. As written it covered only cancellations under KRS 186.040 itself. 2025 Ky. Acts ch. 39 (HB 390), section 5, effective June 27, 2025, extended it to a registration revoked under KRS 186A.040(5)(b) — the insurance-lapse revocation. Before 2024 a Kentucky owner who lost a registration over a lapse paid nothing administrative to get it back. The fee is separate from, and can be owed on top of, the $40 driver's license relicensing fee in KRS 186.531(8).
2025 Ky. Acts ch. 39 (HB 390), sec. 5 — enrolled text, Legislative Research Commission
June 3, 2025 · Hawaii
Moving here
Head lamps joined mufflers on the safety check list
Act 172, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025 (S.B. 1216, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, C.D. 1), signed by Governor Green on June 3, 2025 and effective on approval, amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 286-26. The enrolled text underscores new language in subsection (e) requiring a vehicle to adhere to the head lamp requirements and specifications of § 291-25(a) before a certificate of inspection is issued, and rewrites subsection (g) so that the director's rules must, at a minimum, check muffler and exhaust compliance under § 291-24 or § 291-24.5 and include those head lamp specifications. The same Act added two separate consequences: an inspection station that wilfully breaks the muffler-check rule three times in eighteen months can lose its permit (§ 286-211(d)), and repairing or installing a noncompliant muffler or exhaust system became a prohibited practice for repair dealers (§ 437B-11(17)). Older descriptions of Hawaii's safety check as an exhaust-and-equipment inspection are missing the head lamp item.
Act 172, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025 (S.B. 1216), §§ 1, 2, 5 and 8
May 13, 2025 · Oklahoma
Driving uninsured
License plate seizure and the $125 fee to get the plate back are abolished
HB 2215 (2025) struck subparagraph b of 47 O.S. § 7-606(A)(1) with an emergency clause, so the change took effect on approval. From November 1, 2013, when HB 1792 created it, an officer citing an uninsured driver could choose to seize the vehicle's license plate instead of towing the car: the citation served as a temporary plate for ten calendar days, the plate was deposited with the county sheriff or the citing municipal department, and it took verification of coverage plus a $125 administrative fee — split between the sheriff, the citing agency, the Temporary Insurance Premium Pool and the plan administrator — to get the plate back. All of that is gone. Towing under 47 O.S. § 955 is now the officer's only option. A side effect worth knowing: the Oklahoma Temporary Motorist Liability Plan in 47 O.S. §§ 7-621 through 7-628 is still on the books but provides coverage only "when a citation is issued and the vehicle license plate has been seized pursuant to subparagraph b of paragraph 1 of subsection A of Section 7-606" — the very provision this act deleted.
Oklahoma Legislature — HB 2215 (2025), enrolled
April 21, 2025 · Georgia
Fault system
Seat belt non-use became admissible evidence of comparative negligence
Senate Bill 68 (2025 Act 9, effective on the Governor's signature) rewrote O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1(d). Until then, failure to wear a seat belt could not be considered evidence of negligence at all. It may now be admitted on negligence, comparative negligence, causation, assumption of risk and apportionment of fault, and may be used to reduce a damages award. Guides that still say seat belt use is inadmissible in a Georgia injury case are describing the pre-2025 rule. Non-use still cannot be a basis for cancelling coverage or raising rates.
Georgia General Assembly — SB 68 (2025)
April 9, 2025 · Ohio
SR-22
SR-22 filing period cut to one year for every suspension class
H.B. 29 of the 135th General Assembly rewrote ORC 4509.45(D). Proof of financial responsibility is now filed and maintained for one year from the date the registrar imposes the suspension. The old rule ran five years for a class A, B or C suspension and three years for a class D, E or F suspension. Guides that still say "three years for a first offense, five years for a repeat" are describing the pre-April 2025 rule. The BMV notes that a non-compliance added to the record before April 9, 2025 keeps the old three-year or five-year term.
Ohio Revised Code § 4509.45
April 9, 2025 · Ohio
Driving uninsured
Repeat-offense lookback cut to one year; plate impoundment and the $50 compliance fee dropped
H.B. 29 of the 135th General Assembly narrowed the repeat-offense window in ORC 4509.101(A)(2) from five years to one year, so a second no-insurance suspension only escalates to a one-year suspension if it lands within twelve months of the first. The same act deleted division (A)(2)(d), which had suspended the owner's registration and impounded the certificate of registration and license plates, and removed the $50 financial responsibility nonvoluntary compliance fee. It also extended the grace period for producing proof after a ticket from fifteen days to forty-five days.
Ohio Revised Code § 4509.101
January 1, 2025 · California
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised from 15/30/5 to 30/60/15
SB 1107, the Protect California Drivers Act, doubled California's minimum liability limits for every policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025: $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury or death, and $15,000 for property damage. The old 15/30/5 figures had stood since 1967 and still appear in a great many guides; under Veh. Code § 16056 they now apply only to policies written before 2025. The same act schedules a further increase to 50/100/25 on January 1, 2035.
Cal. Veh. Code § 16056 (Stats. 2022, Ch. 717 — SB 1107)
January 1, 2025 · California
SR-22
Proof of financial responsibility now means 30/60/15
SB 1107 also rewrote Veh. Code § 16430, the definition that governs what an SR 22 has to certify. From January 1, 2025 a driver filing proof after a suspension must show at least $30,000/$60,000 bodily injury and $15,000 property damage coverage, not the old $15,000/$30,000/$5,000. The three-year filing period itself is unchanged.
Cal. Veh. Code § 16430 (Stats. 2022, Ch. 717 — SB 1107)
January 1, 2025 · Idaho
SR-22
SR-22 and SR-26 filings moved off paper and into the state insurance verification system
The Idaho Transportation Department now requires SR-22 and SR-26 information to be submitted through the State of Idaho Insurance Verification System at idahoivs.com rather than filed with the department directly, effective January 1, 2025. Once an insurer or agent submits the filing it posts to the driver record automatically, and the driver can confirm it through ITD's free status check instead of waiting for correspondence. The change is administrative — Idaho Code §§ 49-1208 and 49-1220 still set who must file and for how long, and the ten-day cancellation notice in § 49-1213 is unchanged — but it matters in practice, because a driver whose license turns on a filing can now verify the same day whether the insurer actually made it. Agents who need help with the portal are directed to support@idahoivs.com.
Idaho Transportation Department — Driver Records and Suspensions (SR22 Insurance Form)
January 1, 2025 · Illinois
Crash reporting
School bus crashes added to the immediate-notice rule
P.A. 103-1047 restructured 625 ILCS 5/11-407. Immediate notice to police is now also required whenever a school bus is involved in a crash resulting in any property damage, injury or death, and whenever a crash within 50 feet of a school bus injures or kills someone boarding or leaving it — with no dollar threshold.
Illinois General Assembly — 625 ILCS 5/11-407
January 1, 2025 · Texas
Moving here
Safety inspections abolished for non-commercial vehicles
HB 3297 ended the Vehicle Safety Inspection Program for non-commercial vehicles. A $7.50 inspection program replacement fee is now collected at registration instead. Emissions testing still applies in designated counties.
Texas DPS
January 1, 2025 · Utah
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits rose to 30/65/25 for policies issued or renewed from January 1, 2025
H.B. 113 (Laws of Utah 2023, chapter 51, signed March 13, 2023) rewrote Utah Code § 31A-22-304 with a delayed trigger. A policy issued or renewed on or before December 31, 2024 could still stop at $25,000 per person, $65,000 per accident and $15,000 in property damage, or an $80,000 combined single limit — the figures Utah had used since Laws of Utah 2008, chapter 371. A policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025 must carry at least $30,000 per person, $65,000 per accident and $25,000 in property damage, or a $90,000 combined single limit. The per-accident bodily injury figure did not move. One exception was written in: a policy for a self-insured private rental fleet may still be written at the old 25/65/15 floor. Guides that still list Utah at 25/65/15 are quoting limits that expired with the last renewal cycle.
H.B. 113, Motor Vehicle Insurance Revisions, enrolled copy — Laws of Utah 2023, ch. 51
January 1, 2025 · Virginia
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised to 50/100/25
For policies effective on or after January 1, 2025, § 46.2-472 requires $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage. Policies effective January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2024 needed 30/60/20. Required UM/UIM limits and the double FR-44 limits rose with them.
Code of Virginia § 46.2-472

2024

July 1, 2024 · Hawaii
Driving uninsured
Minimum fine for a repeat no-insurance conviction rose from $1,500 to $2,000
Part I of the same Act 138 amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-117(a)(2)(B). The enrolled text brackets "$1,500" and underscores "$2,000" as the minimum fine "for each subsequent offense that occurs within a five-year period from any prior offense"; the $500 first-offense fine was left alone. This part took effect July 1, 2024. Note that the figure is a floor with no ceiling stated in that subparagraph, so sources that print it as a flat $2,000 are reading it too narrowly. The court may still suspend all or part of the fine if the defendant produces a current policy, and may substitute 200 to 275 hours of community service on a second offense.
Act 138, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (S.B. 2342), §§ 2 and 7
July 1, 2024 · Idaho
Moving here
Idaho residency for registration and licensing dropped from 90 days to 30
H.B. 583, as amended in the Senate (Session Law 2024, chapter 234, signed March 28, 2024, effective July 1, 2024), rewrote the definition of "resident" in Idaho Code § 49-119(12). Until then a resident was a person whose domicile had been in Idaho continuously for at least ninety days, with a separate sentence letting anyone who had established a domicile declare residency earlier. The enrolled text strikes "ninety (90)" and inserts "thirty (30)", and deletes the early-declaration sentence as redundant. Because both the vehicle registration duty and the driver license duty hang on that one definition, the deadline for a new arrival to title, register and get an Idaho license fell from ninety days to thirty at the same moment. ITD's current New to Idaho page says thirty days for both, but its Registering Vehicles in Idaho fact sheet PDF — still posted, still reuploaded in July 2025 — says ninety days in two places, and most third-party guides copy the old number.
H.B. 583 (2024), As Amended in the Senate, engrossed copy — Session Law 2024, ch. 234
July 1, 2024 · Kansas
Crash reporting
Leaving the scene of a fatal crash became a far heavier felony — Levi's law
HB 2665 (L. 2024, ch. 51) rewrote the penalty ladder in K.S.A. 8-1602 for a driver who does not stop and perform the duties K.S.A. 8-1602 through 8-1604 require. Where a driver who knew or reasonably should have known the accident caused injury or death and left anyway faced a severity level 5 person felony, that is now a severity level 4 person felony, and a new subsection makes it a severity level 3 person felony when more than one person died. The act names the amendments Levi's law. The act also closed a gap in the same ladder: damage of exactly $1,000 used to fall between "less than $1,000" and "in excess of $1,000" and so fit neither tier. It now reads "$1,000 or more".
2024 HB 2665, enrolled — an act relating to violations of the uniform act regulating traffic on highways
July 1, 2024 · Louisiana
Fault system
Deadline to sue over a crash doubled from one year to two
Act 423 of 2024 (HB 315) repealed La. Civ. Code arts. 3492 and 3493 and enacted art. 3493.1, which subjects delictual actions to a two-year liberative prescription running from the day the injury or damage is sustained. Louisiana's one-year deadline had been the shortest in the country. The two-year period applies to causes of action arising on or after July 1, 2024.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1
July 1, 2024 · Maine
Minimum coverage
Every Maine policy must now carry $500 of towing and storage coverage
P.L. 2023, ch. 395 (L.D. 1661) added a fifth compulsory item to Maine's minimum coverage list: up to $500 per accident for the reasonable towing and storage charges of the insured vehicle when it is towed at a law enforcement officer's request. It applies to policies executed, delivered, issued for delivery, continued or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, so an in-force policy picked the coverage up at its next renewal rather than on the effective date. The liability limits themselves did not move — 50/100/25 and the $2,000 medical payments floor were both set by P.L. 2007, ch. 213. The Bureau of Insurance's own "Insurance Required by Law" page still lists only liability, medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage and omits the towing item.
P.L. 2023, ch. 395 (L.D. 1661), §§ A-1 to A-4 — chaptered law
July 1, 2024 · Maryland
Minimum coverage
Enhanced underinsured motorist coverage became the default
Chapter 514 of 2023 requires insurers to include enhanced underinsured motorist coverage — which pays without reduction for the at-fault driver's insurance — in every new private passenger policy issued on or after July 1, 2024, unless the first named insured waives it in writing. Before that it was an optional add-on. Existing policies from before that date are not switched over unless the insured elects the coverage. The change is scheduled to sunset on June 30, 2029, when the coverage becomes opt-in again.
Md. Code, Ins. § 19-509.1
July 1, 2024 · Maryland
Driving uninsured
MVA uninsured motorist penalty raised to $200 and capped at $3,500
Chapter 857 of 2024 (HB 1482) raised the penalty for the first 30 days of a lapse from $150 to $200 and the 12-month cap from $2,500 to $3,500. The daily rate from day 31 stays at $7. Guides that still quote $150 and $2,500 are out of date.
Maryland General Assembly — Chapter 857 of 2024
July 1, 2024 · Minnesota
Crash reporting
Statute now spells out which crashes are reportable — tow-away or medical treatment, not a dollar figure
Laws 2024, chapter 104, article 1, section 31 (H.F. 3436, signed May 15, 2024) rewrote Minn. Stat. § 169.09, subd. 8. For the first time since the old driver's report was repealed, the statute lists what makes a crash reportable: a fatality; bodily injury for which someone immediately receives medical treatment at or away from the scene; disabling damage that requires a vehicle to be towed from the scene; or damage to fixtures, infrastructure or other property alongside or on a highway. The same amendment extended the rule to crashes on sidewalks, shoulders, shared use paths and public lands and trail systems. Guides that still describe Minnesota's reporting duty in dollars are quoting a test the legislature removed. The act carries appropriations, so it took effect on the July 1 after enactment under Minn. Stat. § 645.02.
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes
July 1, 2024 · South Carolina
Driving uninsured
The $550 uninsured motorist fee is abolished — you can no longer buy the right to drive uninsured
For decades South Carolina let an owner register a vehicle as uninsured by paying an annual uninsured motorist fee, set at $550 in the text the legislature repealed, and drive legally with no liability policy at all. 2023 Act No. 51 (S. 549) reserved § 56-10-510 effective July 1, 2024 and ordered SCDMV to make sure nobody remained registered as an uninsured motorist. Section 56-10-520 was rewritten at the same time to make operating an uninsured vehicle flatly unlawful, with a $600 base reinstatement fee adjusted annually. Any guide that still tells South Carolina drivers they can pay $550 to skip insurance is describing a repealed scheme.
S.C. Code § 56-10-510 (reserved) and § 56-10-520, as amended by 2023 Act No. 51
July 1, 2024 · Virginia
Driving uninsured
$500 uninsured motor vehicle fee repealed — insurance now mandatory
SB 951 (2023 Acts ch. 538) ended the option to register a vehicle uninsured by paying a $500 uninsured motor vehicle fee to DMV. Every registered vehicle must now carry liability insurance at the § 46.2-472 limits. Guides that still describe paying $500 instead of buying insurance are out of date.
2023 Acts of Assembly ch. 538 (SB 951)
May 20, 2024 · South Carolina
Minimum coverage
Dashcam footage now supports a hit-and-run uninsured motorist claim
2024 Act No. 180 (H. 4869) rewrote § 38-77-170. Where the other driver is unknown, an uninsured motorist claim used to need either physical contact with the phantom vehicle or an independent eyewitness. A recording of the crash, obtained electronically or otherwise, is now a third route, and the eyewitness route gained a sworn-affidavit requirement with a presuit deposition fallback.
S.C. Code § 38-77-170, as amended by 2024 Act No. 180
January 18, 2024 · South Carolina
Moving here
A 45-day deadline to register a vehicle brought into the state is written into the code
2023 Act No. 51 (S. 549) added § 56-3-212(F): the owner of a vehicle moved in from a state where it was properly licensed and registered has forty-five days to license and register it in South Carolina — and must do it immediately if the out-of-state registration has already expired. The same act rewrote the temporary license plate rules the new resident has to use in the meantime.
S.C. Code § 56-3-212(F), added by 2023 Act No. 51
January 1, 2024 · Alabama
Driving uninsured
Graduated towing and impoundment for drivers who cannot show insurance
Act 2023-479 (SB 312) added § 32-7A-16(e): a vehicle stopped or crashed whose driver cannot produce registration and insurance may no longer continue on the road. A first violation within a two-year registration period means the officer has the vehicle moved to a place of safety; a second means it is towed at the owner's expense to a location the operator picks; a third or later means impoundment, with release only once the insurance requirement is met and all towing and storage fees are paid.
Alabama Legislature — Act 2023-479 (SB 312), enrolled
January 1, 2024 · Oregon
Coverage lapse
Reinstatement fee raised from $75 to $85
HB 2100 raised the fee in ORS 807.370(10) for reinstating suspended or revoked driving privileges from $75 to $85, along with most other DMV fees. Sites that still quote $75 for getting an Oregon license back after an insurance lapse are out of date.
2023 Or. Laws ch. 232 (HB 2100) § 1
January 1, 2024 · Tennessee
SR-22
SR-22 period now matches the suspension instead of a flat three years
Public Chapter 336 (2023, SB 259) rewrote Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-126. Proof of financial responsibility used to have to be maintained for three years; it now has to be maintained for the period of the suspension or revocation. Drivers placed under the old three-year requirement may petition the Department of Safety to shorten the time that remains. Guides that still say Tennessee requires an SR-22 for three years describe the pre-2024 law.
Tennessee Public Chapter 336 (2023)
January 1, 2024 · Vermont
Coverage lapse
License reinstatement fee raised from $80 to $96
Sec. G.131 of the fiscal year 2024 budget act (2023 Acts and Resolves No. 78, H.494) amended 23 V.S.A. § 675 to raise the fee payable before a suspension or revocation is lifted from $80 to $96, effective January 1, 2024. The exemptions did not change: the fee still does not apply to a suspension issued under chapter 11 — the financial responsibility chapter — nor to one issued for a physical disability or for failing a re-examination. Because 23 V.S.A. § 308(c) pegs the registration reinstatement fee to the § 675 figure, that fee rose to $96 at the same time.
2023 Acts and Resolves No. 78, Sec. G.131 — An act relating to making appropriations for the support of government
January 1, 2024 · West Virginia
Moving here
Safety inspection moved from annual to every two years, fee capped at $19
HB 2310 (2023 Acts ch. 212) amended §§ 17C-16-4, 17C-16-5 and 17C-16-6 to change the interval of mandatory vehicle inspections from one year to two, double the sticker charge to the inspection station to $6, and raise the maximum an inspection station may charge a motorist to $19. The statute gives the amendments an internal effective date of January 1, 2024, so stickers issued from that day cover 24 months. Guides that still describe an annual West Virginia inspection sticker, or a fee in the single digits, are out of date.
Enrolled HB 2310, 2023 Regular Session (West Virginia Legislature)

2023

October 25, 2023 · Maine
Crash reporting
Crash reporting threshold raised from $1,000 to $2,000
P.L. 2023, ch. 27 (L.D. 552) rewrote the definition of "reportable accident" in 29-A M.R.S. §2251(1), raising the apparent property damage trigger from $1,000 to $2,000. Signed on April 10, 2023, it took effect on October 25, 2023 — the date every non-emergency act of that special session took effect, ninety days after the session adjourned on July 26. The Maine State Police Vehicle Crashes FAQ still tells drivers a report is taken when combined damage is "in excess of $1000.00", and most third-party guides repeat the old figure.
P.L. 2023, ch. 27 (L.D. 552), §1 — chaptered law
October 3, 2023 · Ohio
Driving uninsured
First-offense reinstatement fee cut from $100 to $40
H.B. 33 of the 135th General Assembly lowered the financial responsibility reinstatement fee for a first violation of ORC 4509.101(A)(1) from $100 to $40. The second-offense ($300) and third-or-later ($600) fees were left alone. Sites that still list $100 / $300 / $600 are quoting the pre-October 2023 schedule.
Ohio Revised Code § 4509.101(A)(5)(a)
August 1, 2023 · Arkansas
Crash reporting
Crash reporting threshold tripled from $1,000 to $3,000
Act 815 of 2023 (HB1633) amended Arkansas Code § 27-53-202(a)(1). A driver now has to notify the nearest law enforcement agency immediately only when someone is injured or killed or total property damage reaches an apparent $3,000, up from $1,000. Guides still quoting $1,000 for the police call are describing the pre-2023 law. What the Act did not touch is the second, quieter duty: § 27-19-501 still requires an SR-1 crash report to the Office of Driver Services within 30 days whenever damage to any one person's property exceeds $1,000 or anyone is hurt, so the $1,000 line survives on the paperwork side. The Governor approved the Act on April 13, 2023; it carries no emergency clause, so it took effect with the rest of the session's general acts 90 days after the General Assembly adjourned sine die on May 1, 2023. The governor signed it on 2023.04.13; with no emergency clause it took effect on 2023.08.01, ninety days after the session adjourned.
Arkansas State Legislature — Acts 2023, No. 815 (HB1633), enrolled
August 1, 2023 · Arkansas
Moving here
New residents got 60 days to register instead of 30
Act 41 of 2023 (HB1150) doubled every registration clock in the chapter. A new resident now has 60 calendar days from becoming a resident to obtain an Arkansas registration and license plate rather than 30 (§ 27-14-723(a)); a business starting up here gets the same 60 days (§ 27-14-723(c)(2)(A)); a buyer has 60 days after a transfer or after a lienholder releases the title to register the vehicle (§ 27-14-903(a)); a vehicle passing to someone other than by voluntary transfer may be driven 60 days before it needs a plate (§ 27-14-907(a)(1)); and a temporary paper buyer's tag is now good until the sixtieth day after purchase (§ 27-14-1705(b)(1)). The Governor approved the Act on February 9, 2023; it carries no emergency clause, so it took effect with the rest of the session's general acts 90 days after the General Assembly adjourned sine die on May 1, 2023. The governor signed it on 2023.02.09; with no emergency clause it took effect on 2023.08.01, ninety days after the session adjourned.
Arkansas State Legislature — Acts 2023, No. 41 (HB1150), enrolled
August 1, 2023 · Minnesota
Minimum coverage
Underinsured motorist claims got a four-year deadline
Laws 2023, chapter 57, article 2, section 58 added Minn. Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 10, which is expressly effective August 1, 2023 and applies to contracts issued or renewed on or after that date. A plan of reparation security must otherwise follow the six-year limitation in § 541.05, subd. 1(1), but a cause of action relating to underinsured motorist coverage must be commenced within four years of accrual. Because UM and UIM coverages are mandatory in Minnesota, this shortened deadline reaches every policyholder, not only those who bought extra coverage.
Laws 2023, ch. 57, art. 2, § 58 — four-year limitation on underinsured motorist claims
July 1, 2023 · Idaho
Coverage lapse
The uninsured-registration notice window doubled to 60 days, with a real 10-day final notice added
H.B. 284 (Session Law 2023, chapter 286, signed April 4, 2023, with an emergency clause setting July 1, 2023) reworked the notice sequence in Idaho Code § 49-1234(4). Three things changed. Insurers now report coverage data to the verification system at least weekly instead of monthly. The initial notice to an owner whose vehicle has shown no coverage for two consecutive months now gives sixty days to comply or claim an exemption, not thirty. And the old paragraph (d), which simply mailed a "final notice of immediate suspension" once the thirty days ran out, was replaced with a genuine second notice giving another ten days before the registration suspension takes effect. The bill also added a duty for insurers that can do so to report that a vehicle's coverage was lawfully suspended because it was put into storage under § 41-2516. ITD's own vehicle insurance page still describes the pre-2023 rule — a single warning with thirty days — so a reader who trusts that page will expect half the time the statute actually gives.
H.B. 284 (2023), Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility — Session Law 2023, ch. 286
July 1, 2023 · Idaho
Moving here
Vehicle emissions testing was abolished statewide
S.B. 1254, as amended (Session Law 2022, chapter 110, effective July 1, 2023), repealed Idaho Code § 39-116B, the section that authorized vehicle inspection and maintenance programs, and dismantled the Treasure Valley Air Quality Council provisions in chapter 67, title 39 that ran them. The legislature had enacted § 39-116B in 2008 for areas where air quality was compromised and motor vehicle emissions were one of the top two contributing sources; Ada County, Canyon County and the city of Kuna met those criteria, and the Department of Environmental Quality administered the testing and reported on it annually. DEQ explains the repeal on the merits: fleet turnover and stricter federal motor vehicle emissions standards had made the programs far less effective than they once were, and the Treasure Valley now meets every national health-based standard. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved removing the Ada County program from the state implementation plan in 2023. No Idaho county now tests emissions as a condition of registration. Sites that still tell a new Boise or Nampa resident to book an emissions test are describing a program that no longer exists.
S.B. 1254 (2022), As Amended, engrossed copy — Session Law 2022, ch. 110
July 1, 2023 · Iowa
Driving uninsured
County treasurers can no longer refuse to register a vehicle over an unmet financial responsibility requirement
HF 593 added Iowa Code §§ 321A.5(5) and 321A.17(10) and narrowed § 321.30(1)(d). The DOT and county treasurers must now issue or transfer a registration and certificate of title even to an owner who owes security after an uninsured crash or who is required to keep proof of financial responsibility on file. The catch is that the registration is suspended the moment it is issued, and stays suspended until the security is deposited or the proof is filed. Iowa still does not ask for insurance to register a car — this change only moved where the block falls.
2023 Iowa Acts, ch. 67 (HF 593)
July 1, 2023 · Mississippi
Coverage lapse
The insurance verification system loses its expiry date and becomes permanent
House Bill 529 (Ch. 517, Laws of 2023) repealed Section 63-16-15, the clause that would have wiped out the Public Safety Verification and Enforcement Act — Sections 63-16-1 through 63-16-13 — on July 1, 2025. The Act had been living on repeated extensions since 2013, and code editions printed before this change still carry the heading "[Repealed effective 7/1/2025]" over the very sections that create the verification system and set the penalty for driving uninsured. They are wrong: nothing now sunsets, and the electronic check an officer runs at a traffic stop is a permanent fixture. The same act also exempted the system's records from the Mississippi Public Records Act.
Mississippi Legislature — House Bill 529 (2023), Ch. 517, as sent to the Governor
May 18, 2023 · South Carolina
Moving here
New residents get an explicit 45-day deadline to surrender an out-of-state license
2023 Act No. 51 (S. 549) amended § 56-1-20 to add the words "within forty-five days of becoming a resident of this State". Before that the code required surrender of out-of-state licenses but named no deadline.
S.C. Code § 56-1-20, as amended by 2023 Act No. 51
March 24, 2023 · Florida
Fault system
Comparative fault changed from pure to modified with a 51% bar
HB 837 (ch. 2023-15) added s. 768.81(6): a party found more than 50 percent at fault for their own harm may not recover any damages. Before March 24, 2023 Florida was a pure comparative fault state where a claimant 90% at fault could still recover 10% of their damages. Medical negligence claims under chapter 766 are excluded from the new bar.
Florida Senate — CS/CS/HB 837 (2023)
January 1, 2023 · New Jersey
Minimum coverage
Liability minimums raised from 15/30 to 25/50/25
P.L.2022, c.87 raised Standard policy minimums from $15,000/$30,000 to $25,000/$50,000 for bodily injury and set property damage at $25,000 for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2023. UM/UIM minimums rose with them. The Basic policy ($5,000 property damage, optional $10,000 bodily injury) was not changed.
P.L.2022, c.87 (approved August 5, 2022)
January 1, 2023 · Tennessee
Minimum coverage
Property damage minimum raised from $15,000 to $25,000
Public Chapter 860 (2022, SB 504) set the minimum liability limits at 25/50/25 for proof required after December 31, 2022, up from 25/50/15. A policy that complied on December 31, 2022 had until its first renewal after that date to meet the new limits.
Tennessee Public Chapter 860 (2022)

2022

July 1, 2022 · Missouri
Moving here
Franklin County dropped from emissions testing
Starting July 1, 2022, vehicles registered in Franklin County no longer need an emissions test to register. Testing still applies in Jefferson County, St. Charles County, St. Louis County and St. Louis City. Guides that list Franklin County as a testing county are out of date.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
February 5, 2022 · Tennessee
Moving here
Davidson County ended vehicle emissions testing
Nashville's Metro Council voted to end the county's program. From February 5, 2022, titling, registering or renewing a vehicle in Davidson County no longer requires an emissions test.
Metro Nashville Public Health Department
January 14, 2022 · Tennessee
Moving here
Vehicle emissions testing ended in Hamilton, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties
EPA approved removing Tennessee's vehicle inspection and maintenance program from the state air plan effective September 16, 2021. A 2018 state law (Public Chapter 953, § 8(a)) ended testing 120 calendar days after that approval, and TDEC announced the end date as January 14, 2022.
Tennessee Public Chapter 953 (2018) and TDEC

2021

December 31, 2021 · Indiana
Driving uninsured
Fixed 90-day-to-1-year insurance suspension replaced by a 180-day SR22 stay
H.E.A. 1199 (P.L.86-2021) rewrote IC 9-25-6-3 and repealed IC 9-25-6-3.5. A no-insurance suspension used to run at least 90 days and up to one year, and a repeat violation within three years meant a one-year suspension. Now the BMV suspends until proof of future financial responsibility (an SR22) is filed, stays the suspension on filing, and terminates it after 180 days without a lapse. No reinstatement fee is owed when the suspension ends that way. Guides that still quote a 90-day or one-year suspension for driving uninsured describe the pre-2022 rule.
Indiana Judicial Branch — Legislative Update, H.E.A. 1199 (P.L. 86-2021)
October 1, 2021 · Nevada
Moving here
New vehicles exempt from emissions testing until the fourth registration
Section 9 of AB 349 (2021) amended NRS 445B.825 to exempt a new motor vehicle from emissions testing until its fourth registration — the first three years of the vehicle's life — instead of the third registration, which had covered only the first two years. Testing is annual after that. Sources that still say a new car needs its first smog check in year three are out of date.
Chapter 363, AB 349, Statutes of Nevada 2021, page 2175
September 30, 2021 · Delaware
Crash reporting
Crash reporting threshold raised from $500 to $2,000
House Bill 28 of the 151st General Assembly amended 21 Del. C. § 4203. A property-damage crash on a public highway now has to be reported to police only when the apparent damage reaches $2,000, up from $500. The same act set the figure that obliges a police agency to complete the State of Delaware Uniform Traffic Collision Report at $2,000 as well, replacing a $1,000 base that had been which had already climbed to its $1,500 ceiling and stopped there under subsection (f). Delaware still requires the report immediately, and the duty is triggered regardless of dollar amount when anyone is injured or killed or when a driver appears impaired.
83 Del. Laws, c. 220 (House Bill 28)
August 20, 2021 · Illinois
Crash reporting
Drivers no longer file their own written crash report
P.A. 102-560 repealed 625 ILCS 5/11-406, which had required the driver of a crash involving injury, death or property damage over $1,500 to forward a written report to the IDOT Administrator within 10 days. Drivers now only owe immediate notice to police under 11-407, and the investigating officer files the report. Guides that still tell Illinois drivers to send a written crash report to the state within 10 days are describing a repealed section.
Illinois General Assembly — 625 ILCS 5/11-406 (repealed)
August 1, 2021 · North Dakota
Driving uninsured
Proof of insurance now goes to the prosecutor, not the court clerk
Senate Bill 2056 of the 67th Legislative Assembly changed where a driver clears a no-insurance ticket. Until then N.D.C.C. § 39-08-20(2) told you to take proof that the vehicle was insured at the time to "the office of the court under which the matter will be heard"; the act replaced that with "the prosecutor where the matter is pending". Show it there and you may not be found in violation. It passed the Senate 47-0 and the House 92-0.
Enrolled Senate Bill No. 2056, 67th Legislative Assembly of North Dakota
July 30, 2021 · Delaware
Driving uninsured
Courts may again suspend the $1,500 minimum fine if you buy insurance before sentencing
Senate Bill 40 of the 151st General Assembly rewrote the last sentence of 21 Del. C. § 2118(s)(1). The old rule locked the minimum fine in place for anyone who had been uninsured for 30 or more consecutive days, unless they could prove the insurer never sent the cancellation notice. The new rule simply lets the court suspend the minimum fine, in whole or in part, on evidence that the defendant secured insurance between the date of the charge and the date of sentencing. The fine ranges themselves — $1,500 to $2,000 for a first offense, $3,000 to $4,000 for a repeat within 3 years — and the mandatory 6-month license suspension were not changed.
83 Del. Laws, c. 90 (Senate Bill 40)
July 14, 2021 · Rhode Island
Minimum coverage
The old financial responsibility chapter was repealed and the 25/50/25 limits moved
P.L. 2021, ch. 398 (S 0401) and ch. 399 repealed R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 31-31-4 through 31-31-21 — the security-after-accident regime that let the DMV demand a cash or bond deposit from drivers involved in a crash — along with §§ 31-47-8, 31-47-8.1 and 31-47-10. Section 31-31-7 had been the section everyone cited for Rhode Island's minimum liability limits, so the same act rewrote the cross-references in § 27-7-2.1 (uninsured motorist coverage) and § 31-34-4 (rental vehicles) to point instead at § 31-47-2(13)(i)(A) of the Motor Vehicle Reparations Act. The dollar figures did not change — 25/50/25, or $75,000 combined single limit — but any guide still citing § 31-31-7 is citing a repealed section, and the enforcement machinery it described is gone.
Rhode Island General Assembly — Public Law 2021, ch. 398
July 1, 2021 · Michigan
Minimum coverage
56-hour weekly cap on family-provided in-home attendant care
From July 1, 2021 insurers are only required to pay for 56 hours per week of in-home attendant care provided by someone related to the injured person, living in their household, or who had a business or social relationship with them before the injury. The insurer must still cover all medically necessary care up to the selected PIP medical limit, and may contract beyond 56 hours. The Michigan Court of Appeals held the limit does not apply to people injured before June 11, 2019. Insurers must also offer a rider extending attendant care above the chosen PIP limit to anyone selecting $50,000, $250,000 or $500,000.
Michigan DIFS — Auto insurance FAQ
July 1, 2021 · Minnesota
Crash reporting
The driver's own crash report was abolished, and with it the $1,000 threshold
Laws 2021, First Special Session, chapter 5, article 4, section 151, paragraph (c) (signed June 26, 2021) repealed Minn. Stat. 2020, § 169.09, subd. 7. That subdivision had required the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash causing injury, death, or total property damage to an apparent extent of $1,000 or more to forward a written report to the commissioner of public safety within ten days. Minnesota drivers no longer file any such report; the investigating peace officer files it instead. Sites that still tell Minnesota drivers to send DPS a report within ten days when damage tops $1,000 are describing a rule that has not existed since 2021. The act carries appropriations, so it took effect on the July 1 after enactment under Minn. Stat. § 645.02.
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes
March 16, 2021 · District of Columbia
Fault system
Motorcyclists and scooter riders gained the contributory negligence carve-out
The Motor Vehicle Collision Recovery Act of 2016 had freed only pedestrians, bicyclists and other non-motorized users from the District's rule that any fault at all bars recovery. The Vulnerable User Collision Recovery Amendment Act of 2020 replaced "non-motorized user" with "vulnerable user", which now covers motorcycles, motor-driven cycles, motorized bicycles, dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles, electric mobility devices, personal mobility devices, skateboards and similar vehicles, and extended the rule to collisions between a vulnerable user and a pedestrian. Those claimants recover unless their own negligence was a proximate cause and greater than the combined negligence of all the defendants. Claims between drivers are still governed by pure contributory negligence.
D.C. Code § 50-2204.52, as amended by D.C. Law 23-183
January 1, 2021 · Louisiana
Fault system
Civil Justice Reform Act of 2020 cut the jury trial threshold from $50,000 to $10,000
Act 37 of the 2020 First Extraordinary Session (HB 57) amended La. C.C.P. art. 1732 so that a jury trial is available once an individual petitioner's cause of action exceeds $10,000, down from $50,000. The same Act limited recovery of past medical expenses to what a health insurer or Medicare actually paid rather than the billed amount, and barred telling the jury that liability insurance exists except in defined situations.
Louisiana State Legislature — La. C.C.P. art. 1732
January 1, 2021 · New Jersey
Driving uninsured
License suspension for driving uninsured became discretionary
P.L.2019, c.276 (S1080) amended N.J.S.A. 39:6B-2. Before, a court had to suspend the license on a first offense — for up to one year, reducible or waivable if proof of insurance was shown — and a second offense brought a two-year forfeiture. Now the court may suspend for up to one or two years, weighing hardship. The fines ($300–$1,000, then up to $5,000) did not change. The law was approved December 20, 2019 and this section took effect on the first day of the 13th month after enactment.
P.L.2019, c.276 (S1080)
January 1, 2021 · Vermont
SR-22
SR-22 period cut from 3 years to 1, and a no-insurance conviction stopped triggering one
Act 170 of 2020 (H.578), signed October 8, 2020 and effective January 1, 2021, rewrote Vermont's proof of financial responsibility rules in three ways. It cut the ordinary filing period in 23 V.S.A. § 809(a) from three years to one, both from the crash, conviction or judgment and from the reinstatement eligibility date where a suspension followed — leaving three years only for careless and negligent operation resulting in death, reckless driving resulting in death, and a second or subsequent DUI. It repealed § 801(a)(1)(F), so a conviction for operating without financial responsibility is no longer an SR-22 trigger at all. And it repealed § 801(a)(1)(G), which had required a driver carrying five points to file an insurance verification certificate after any further moving violation. Sec. 4 directed the Commissioner to release affected drivers from their existing filing obligations by April 1, 2021. Vermont's own Department of Financial Regulation still publishes the pre-2021 answers on its SR-22 page — three years, and driving without insurance as a trigger — so the statute and the DMV's reinstatement page are the ones to follow.
2019 Acts and Resolves No. 170 (H.578) — An act relating to proof of financial responsibility

2020

July 15, 2020 · Iowa
Driving uninsured
Fine for driving without proof of insurance raised to $325
SF 457 renamed the criminal penalty surcharge the crime services surcharge and cut it from 35% to 15%; it is still added on top of the scheduled fine. The penalty under Iowa Code § 321.20B went from $250 to $325, and from $500 to $645 when the violation is charged in connection with a motor vehicle accident. Guides still quoting $250 are printing the pre-2020 schedule.
2020 Iowa Acts, ch. 1074 (SF 457), § 42
July 15, 2020 · Iowa
Coverage lapse
$200 civil penalty on financial responsibility suspensions repealed
Iowa Code § 321A.32A charged $200 — $50 for drivers aged 19 or under — every time the DOT suspended, revoked or barred a license under the motor vehicle financial responsibility chapter, and it had to be paid before any reinstatement or temporary restricted license. SF 457 repealed it outright. Reinstating after a lapse now costs the ordinary $20 driver's license reinstatement fee.
2020 Iowa Acts, ch. 1074 (SF 457), § 54
July 2, 2020 · Michigan
Minimum coverage
Unlimited PIP is no longer mandatory — drivers now choose from six coverage levels
For policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, 2019 PA 21 and 22 ended Michigan's single mandatory unlimited PIP medical benefit. The insured now selects one of six levels: unlimited; $500,000; $250,000; $250,000 with PIP-medical exclusions for household members holding qualified health coverage; $50,000, available only to a named insured enrolled in Medicaid whose spouse and resident relatives have qualified health coverage, Medicaid or PIP elsewhere; or no PIP medical at all, available only to a named insured with Medicare Parts A and B whose spouse and resident relatives have qualified health coverage or PIP elsewhere. A policy with no valid selection defaults to unlimited. This is the single most misreported fact about Michigan auto insurance — guides that describe Michigan as a mandatory unlimited-PIP state are six years out of date.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.3107c
July 2, 2020 · Michigan
Minimum coverage
Default bodily injury limits raised from 20/40 to 250/500
The same reform rewrote MCL 500.3009. Before July 2, 2020 the statutory minimum was $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident. After that date a policy carries $250,000 and $500,000 unless the insured signs a director-approved form buying down, and the lowest permitted buy-down is $50,000 and $100,000. Residual property damage liability stayed at $10,000 and still applies only to property damaged in another state. Sources still quoting 20/40/10 as Michigan's minimum are citing repealed limits.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.3009
July 2, 2020 · Michigan
Fault system
Mini-tort limit tripled from $1,000 to $3,000
MCL 500.3135(3)(e) now allows damages of up to $3,000 for vehicle damage not covered by insurance for motor vehicle accidents occurring after July 1, 2020; the $1,000 cap still governs earlier crashes. The rest of the rule is unchanged: the defendant must be 50% or more at fault, a driver with collision coverage recovers only the deductible, and no mini-tort damages are awarded for a vehicle that was being operated without the required security. Several Michigan state pages written before the reform still say $1,000.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.3135
July 1, 2020 · Arizona
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised from 15/30/10 to 25/50/15
For policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2020, A.R.S. § 28-4009 requires $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident and $15,000 property damage, up from $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. The old limits now apply only to self-insurers. Guides that still quote 15/30/10 are out of date.
Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-4009
June 10, 2020 · Ohio
Coverage lapse
BMV random insurance verification program eliminated
The random-selection provision in ORC 4509.101(A)(3)(c), which let the registrar pick registered owners at random and demand proof of insurance by certified mail, is present in the version effective July 1, 2017 and absent from the next version, effective June 10, 2020. The Legislative Service Commission attributes the repeal to H.B. 62 of the 133rd General Assembly. Ohio no longer mails random verification letters; enforcement now happens at traffic stops, crashes and vehicle inspections. Guides that describe Ohio as a random-verification state are out of date.
Ohio Revised Code § 4509.101 (version effective July 1, 2017)
May 12, 2020 · Utah
Crash reporting
The crash reporting threshold rose from $1,500 to $2,500, in two separate bills
Utah raised its property damage reporting threshold in two steps that are easy to miss because they sit in different sections. H.B. 302 (Laws of Utah 2019, chapter 149, effective May 14, 2019) changed Utah Code § 41-6a-401(4), the duty to notify the nearest law enforcement office immediately, from $1,500 to $2,500. H.B. 151 (Laws of Utah 2020, chapter 74, effective May 12, 2020) then changed the matching figure in § 41-6a-402(1), the written report the Department of Public Safety may require within 10 days. Until that second bill the two numbers disagreed. Sites that still put Utah's reporting threshold at $1,500 are quoting a figure no longer in either section.
H.B. 151, Traffic Safety Amendments, enrolled copy — Laws of Utah 2020, ch. 74
January 1, 2020 · Alabama
Coverage lapse
Four-month registration suspension for repeat insurance violations repealed
Act 2019-446 (HB 302) struck the words requiring the Department of Revenue to "terminate the suspension four months after its effective date" for a second or subsequent violation. The registration now comes back as soon as the owner pays the $400 reinstatement fee and shows current coverage. The same act shortened the repeat-offense lookback from four registration years to two, and created the stored-or-inoperable exemption — surrender the plate within 30 days of the notice and the registration is revoked instead of suspended, but that exemption can be claimed only once per registration period. Guides that still describe a mandatory four-month wait are out of date.
Alabama Legislature — Act 2019-446 (HB 302), enrolled
January 1, 2020 · Idaho
Coverage lapse
Idaho began suspending registrations by database match instead of waiting for a traffic stop
H.B. 179, as amended (Session Law 2019, chapter 269, effective January 1, 2020), added subsections (4) and (5) to Idaho Code § 49-1234 and turned a passive lookup tool into an enforcement program. Before it, the online verification system existed only so that officers and courts could check coverage. After it, ITD must match verification data against every motor vehicle registration in the state at least monthly and must suspend the registration of any vehicle that fails the match, with notices to the owner, a $75 reinstatement fee paid to the state highway account, and carve-outs for coverage lawfully suspended on a stored vehicle under § 41-2516 and for owners who report an exemption. The same bill created the peace officer's duty in subsection (5): if the system confirms coverage, the officer may not write an infraction citation under § 49-1232 at all. This is why an Idaho lapse usually surfaces as a letter about your license plates rather than as a ticket — the state finds it without anyone pulling you over.
H.B. 179 (2019), As Amended, engrossed copy — Session Law 2019, ch. 269
January 1, 2020 · Washington
Moving here
Vehicle emission check program ended
After 38 years, Washington's emission check program ended January 1, 2020, following a phase-out the Legislature began in 2005. Vehicle owners no longer need an emissions test before renewing registration. Driving a vehicle with modified emissions equipment, or one that smokes, is still illegal.
Washington Department of Ecology

2019

September 1, 2019 · Texas
Driving uninsured
Driver Responsibility Program surcharges repealed
HB 2048 abolished the Driver Responsibility Program in full, including past, present and future surcharges. Roughly one million license suspensions were lifted. Guides that still list an annual $250 surcharge for driving without insurance are describing a program that no longer exists.
Texas DPS
August 1, 2019 · North Dakota
Crash reporting
The crash reporting threshold quadrupled — $1,000 became $4,000
House Bill 1065 of the 66th Legislative Assembly amended subsection 1 of N.D.C.C. § 39-08-09, striking "one thousand dollars" and inserting "four thousand dollars" as the apparent property damage that obliges a driver to give immediate notice of a crash. The bill passed 89-0 in the House and 46-0 in the Senate and was filed with the Secretary of State on March 27, 2019; carrying no emergency clause and no appropriation, it took effect on the following August 1 under the general rule in Article IV, section 13 of the North Dakota Constitution and N.D.C.C. § 1-02-42. Guides that still tell North Dakota drivers to call police once damage reaches $1,000 are quoting a figure the legislature replaced. Nothing else about the duty changed: notice is still immediate, still given to local police inside a municipality and otherwise to the county sheriff or the Highway Patrol, and the $50 fine for failing to give it is unchanged.
Enrolled House Bill No. 1065, 66th Legislative Assembly of North Dakota
July 28, 2019 · Washington
Minimum coverage
Motorcycles brought under the mandatory liability insurance law
2019 c 60 amended RCW 46.30.020 so that motorcycle riders must carry liability coverage and proof of insurance. Mopeds, motor-driven cycles and wheeled all-terrain vehicles remain outside the mandatory insurance chapter.
Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner
July 15, 2019 · Rhode Island
Fault system
An open and obvious danger no longer bars recovery
P.L. 2019, ch. 185 (H 5478 Substitute A) and ch. 256 amended R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-20-4 so that "the fact that the danger or defect was open and obvious" no longer bars a recovery; like ordinary contributory fault, it now only reduces damages in proportion to the claimant's share of the negligence. Rhode Island was already a pure comparative negligence state with no percentage cut-off, and this closed the doctrine that courts had used to dispose of claims before the comparison was ever made. By its own terms the amendment reaches only injuries or property damage occurring after the act passed on July 15, 2019.
Rhode Island General Assembly — Public Law 2019, ch. 185
June 14, 2019 · New Mexico
Coverage lapse
Proof of insurance may be shown on a phone
Laws 2019, ch. 154, § 1 added Subsection D to NMSA 1978, § 66-5-229, letting an owner or operator carry evidence of financial responsibility either in print or on a portable electronic device. The driver assumes the risk of damage to the device, and is presumed not to consent to giving a law enforcement officer access to anything else stored on it.
NMSA 1978, § 66-5-229 (2019 amendment annotation) — Chapter 66, current compilation
January 1, 2019 · California
Moving here
Smog abatement fee replaced the inspection for newer vehicles
Since January 1, 2019, owners of vehicles less than four model years old pay a smog abatement fee at registration instead of obtaining a smog inspection, and gasoline vehicles remain exempt from inspection for their first eight model years. This does not exempt an out-of-state vehicle being registered in California for the first time, which still needs a California smog certification unless it falls into an age or fuel-type exemption.
California DMV — Smog Inspections
January 1, 2019 · Rhode Island
SR-22
Rhode Island dropped the SR-22 out of its statutes
Until this date R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-47-12(c) let the DMV, a court or the traffic tribunal require proof of financial security "to be demonstrated by use of standard form SR 22." P.L. 2018, ch. 180 (H 8271 Substitute A) and ch. 201 struck those words, leaving only the list of documents a driver may present — a certificate of proof of financial responsibility, a bond, a certificate of deposit of money or securities, or a certificate of self insurance. The DMV's Financial Responsibility office now states flatly that "Financial Responsibility (SR-22) is no longer required by the State of Rhode Island"; the state's own filing is the GU-1338, canceled with an SR-26. The same act, effective the same day, added the § 31-47-12(f) penalty ladder for an operator caught without coverage in force: up to thirty days' suspension and a $100 to $250 fine on a first offense, $500 on a second, $1,000 on a third. Comparison sites and insurers that still sell "Rhode Island SR-22 insurance" are selling a form the state stopped naming in 2019.
Rhode Island General Assembly — Public Law 2018, ch. 180

2018

November 1, 2018 · Oklahoma
Driving uninsured
Plate-reader cameras start mailing uninsured-vehicle notices instead of citations
SB 359 (2016) created two linked programs in 47 O.S. §§ 7-606.1 and 7-606.2: the Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Program, which lets district attorneys and participating law enforcement agencies contract for automatic license plate reader systems and treat an officer's sworn affidavit about a plate-reader photograph plus an online-verification hit as probable cause, and the Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion Program, which lets the district attorney defer prosecution for up to two years. The District Attorneys Council says camera units have been deployed since November 1, 2018, checking plates against the Oklahoma Insurance Verification System and forwarding only the non-matches for review. The owner of a vehicle that does not match gets a mailed notice with the photographs; buying coverage, paying a $190 enrollment fee and promising to stay insured for two years takes the case out of criminal court. The statutory fee is not a fixed number — it is whatever district court costs would have been under 28 O.S. § 153, plus $20 to the District Attorneys Council — and no fee at all is owed if the owner proves coverage was in force on the date in question. The program's plate-reader powers were conditioned on the Insurance Department first verifying that at least 95 percent of the state's personal auto market reports through a real-time web portal.
Oklahoma District Attorneys Council — About the UVED Program
October 1, 2018 · Michigan
Driving uninsured
Driver Responsibility Fees abolished and outstanding balances forgiven
2018 Public Acts 43-50 accelerated the end of the Driver Responsibility Fee program from October 1, 2019 to October 1, 2018. No new assessments were issued after that date, the Department of Treasury stopped collecting outstanding fees after September 30, 2018, drivers ceased to be liable for unpaid balances, and licenses suspended for non-payment became eligible for reinstatement. Guides that still list an annual driver responsibility fee on top of the fine for driving uninsured are describing a program that no longer exists.
State of Michigan — Office of the Governor
July 1, 2018 · Nevada
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised from 15/30/10 to 25/50/20
SB 308 (2017) raised the minimum motor vehicle liability coverage required by NRS 485.185 to $25,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $50,000 per crash, and $20,000 for property damage, up from $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. The act became effective on July 1, 2018 and carried the same increase into the short-term lessor rule (NRS 482.305), the post-crash security limits (NRS 485.210), the judgment-satisfaction thresholds (NRS 485.304) and the policy requirements (NRS 485.3091). Guides that still quote 15/30/10 for Nevada are out of date.
Nevada SB 308 (2017), enrolled — Chapter 258, Statutes of Nevada 2017
April 13, 2018 · Mississippi
Driving uninsured
Escalating $300 / $400 / $500 penalty replaced by a flat $100 criminal fine
House Bill 325 (Ch. 454, Laws of 2018) rewrote what driving uninsured costs in Mississippi, and almost every guide still has the old numbers. Before it, Section 63-16-13(1) made the violation a civil matter with a penalty that climbed — $300 for a first, $400 for a second, $500 for a third or later — and the court was forbidden to reduce it. The act struck that ladder out and put a criminal misdemeanor in its place: a flat $100 fine and suspension of the driving privilege for one year, or until the owner shows liability insurance at the required limits and pays the fines, assessments and reinstatement fees. It added a duty on the judge to find whether the defendant is indigent and, if so, to allow reinstatement on proof of insurance plus a payment plan. The same act cut the separate fine for failing to produce an insurance card, Section 63-15-4(4), from $500 to the same $100. The Department of Public Safety's own verification portal still lists the repealed $300 / $400 / $500 amounts.
Mississippi Legislature — House Bill 325 (2018), Ch. 454, as sent to the Governor
January 1, 2018 · Connecticut
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised from 20/40/10 to 25/50/25
P.A. 17-114 (H.B. 5963) rewrote Conn. Gen. Stat. § 14-112, lifting bodily injury coverage from $20,000 to $25,000 per person and from $40,000 to $50,000 per accident, and property damage coverage from $10,000 to $25,000. It applies to policies delivered, issued for delivery, renewed, amended or endorsed on or after January 1, 2018. Because § 38a-335 and § 38a-336 both point at § 14-112(a), the same increase raised the floor for required uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Guides that still list Connecticut at 20/40/10 are describing the law as it stood before 2018.
Connecticut General Assembly — Public Act 17-114
January 1, 2018 · Kentucky
Minimum coverage
The property damage minimum went from $10,000 to $25,000 — Kentucky is 25/50/25, not 25/50/10
2017 Ky. Acts ch. 157 (SB 114), section 1, amended KRS 304.39-110(1)(a)1. to raise the required property damage liability limit from ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). Section 3 of the Act provided that the change applies to policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2018, so although the Act's effective date was June 29, 2017, the requirement reached drivers at renewal. The bodily injury limits (25/50) and the $60,000 single-limit alternative were untouched, and section 2 conformed the definition of proof of financial responsibility in KRS 187.290(11) by pointing it at the statute instead of restating the dollar figures. Comparison sites and older state guides that still list Kentucky as a 25/50/10 state are quoting a minimum that has been wrong for eight years.
2017 Ky. Acts ch. 157 (SB 114) — enrolled text, Legislative Research Commission
January 1, 2018 · Oregon
Crash reporting
Crash report threshold raised from $1,500 to $2,500
SB 35 raised the property damage figure in ORS 811.720 and ORS 811.745 from $1,500 to $2,500. ODOT may raise it again every five years to track the regional consumer price index, but has not done so, so $2,500 is still the current threshold.
2017 Or. Laws ch. 189 (SB 35) § 1
January 1, 2018 · Utah
Moving here
The annual safety inspection for ordinary vehicles was abolished
H.B. 265 (Laws of Utah 2017, chapter 406, signed March 25, 2017, effective January 1, 2018) repealed the requirement that a vehicle pass a safety inspection to be registered or operated on a highway, and paid for the change with higher registration fees that fund additional Highway Patrol troopers. What remains in Utah Code § 53-8-205 is narrow: a salvage vehicle at its first registration, an off-highway or novel vehicle being registered as street legal, and an annual inspection for commercial vehicles, ground transportation service vehicles, buses and vans for hire, taxicabs, and vehicles with three or more axles or pulling a trailer. A new resident bringing a car into Utah needs an emissions certificate in the five testing counties but no safety inspection.
H.B. 265, Safety Inspection Amendments, enrolled copy — Laws of Utah 2017, ch. 406

2017

December 13, 2017 · Delaware
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised from 15/30/5 to 25/50/10
House Bill 114 of the 149th General Assembly rewrote 21 Del. C. § 2902(b)(2), lifting bodily injury coverage from $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident to $25,000 and $50,000, and property damage from $5,000 to $10,000. Because § 2118(a)(1) ties the required liability coverage to the Financial Responsibility Law, the change flowed straight through to every registered vehicle. It was approved on June 13, 2017 and took effect 6 months later, applying to policies written or renewed after that date rather than to policies already in force. Sites that still print 15/30/5 or 15/30/10 for Delaware are quoting the pre-2017 law; the old $15,000 / $30,000 / $10,000 figures do survive in 21 Del. C. § 2944, which governs when a crash judgment counts as satisfied, and that is a different rule.
81 Del. Laws, c. 39 (House Bill 114 as amended by House Amendment 1)
September 21, 2017 · Delaware
Moving here
Inspection exemption for newer vehicles extended from 5 to 7 model years
House Bill 246 of the 149th General Assembly changed 21 Del. C. § 2143(a) so the DMV may waive inspection for the initial registration or renewal of vehicles no older than 7 model years, up from 5. The same act stretched the maximum registration period for those vehicles from 48 to 72 months. The DMV applies the 7-year line to emissions testing as well. Guides that still say a Delaware vehicle starts being inspected in its sixth year are two years off.
81 Del. Laws, c. 184 (House Bill 246)
September 1, 2017 · Texas
Crash reporting
TxDOT stopped accepting the CR-2 driver's crash report
SB 312 ended TxDOT retention of the CR-2 'blue form'. Drivers now file the report with local law enforcement rather than the state, and keep their own copy.
TxDOT
July 1, 2017 · Montana
Driving uninsured
Jail was removed from first and second no-insurance offenses, and cut from six months to ten days on a third
House Bill 133 of the 2017 session (Chapter 321, Laws 2017, effective July 1, 2017 and applicable to offenses committed after June 30, 2017) rewrote the penalty sentence in Mont. Code Ann. § 61-6-304(1) as part of the Commission on Sentencing's omnibus revision of Montana sentencing law. The enrolled act struck the words "or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 10 days, or both" from the first-offense penalty and again from the second-conviction penalty, and replaced "6 months" with "10 days" in the third-or-subsequent penalty. A first offense is now a fine of $250 to $500 and nothing more; a second is a flat $350; only a third or subsequent conviction can carry jail, and then for no more than ten days. The same act also fixed § 61-6-302(4), changing the test for an acquittal from insurance "valid at the time of arrest" to insurance "valid at the time the alleged violation took place". Nine years on, Montana's own consumer materials still describe the repealed rule. The Motor Vehicle Division's Vehicle Insurance and Verification page tells drivers a first offense is "between $250 and $500 or up to 10 days in jail" and that a third conviction can bring "imprisonment for not more than six months"; the Montana Driver Manual attaches ten days of jail to a first and a second offense. Both are reciting the pre-2017 text. The chapter number and section numbers of the amendment are on the face of the current statute; the struck and inserted words were read in the enrolled bill.
Mont. Code Ann. § 61-6-304 — penalties (history: amd. Sec. 35, Ch. 321, L. 2017), with House Bill 133 (2017) enrolled bill
January 1, 2017 · Kansas
Minimum coverage
The property damage minimum went from $10,000 to $25,000 — Kansas has not been 25/50/10 since 2016
HB 2446 (L. 2016, ch. 72) amended K.S.A. 40-3107(e) so that every motor vehicle liability policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2017 carries a property damage limit of not less than $25,000, up from $10,000. The bodily injury limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident were left alone, so the state went from 25/50/10 to 25/50/25 in one step. Guides that still list Kansas at 25/50/10 are quoting a limit that stopped applying to new and renewed policies nearly a decade ago. The same act added K.S.A. 40-3107(j), which directs a legislative interim study committee — beginning with the 2026 interim period and at least every 10 years thereafter, subject to authorization by the Legislative Coordinating Council — to study whether all three minimum limits should be adjusted.
2016 HB 2446, enrolled — increasing minimum policy limit for property damage

2016

January 1, 2016 · Montana
Minimum coverage
The property damage minimum doubled from $10,000 to $20,000
House Bill 375 of the 2015 session (Chapter 216, Laws 2015), introduced by Representative S. Lavin, amended Mont. Code Ann. § 61-6-103(1)(b)(iii) to strike $10,000 and insert $20,000, and its applicability section limits the change to "motor vehicle insurance liability policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2016." The $10,000 figure had stood since 1989. The two bodily injury figures were left untouched and still read $25,000 and $50,000, where the legislature set them in 1975. This is the single most common stale fact about Montana insurance: guides that still print "25/50/10" are describing the pre-2016 rule. The change also quietly lifted the uninsured motorist floor's companion figure, because § 33-23-201 ties uninsured motorist limits to § 61-6-103. The Legislative Services Division's topic primer records the bill and confirms the current $20,000 figure; the applicability date was read in the enrolled bill.
Montana Legislative Services Division — Topic Primer: Revise Auto Insurance Minimum Requirements (HB 375, 2015), with House Bill 375 (2015) enrolled bill
January 1, 2016 · West Virginia
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits raised to 25/50/25
Committee Substitute for HB 2790 (2015 Regular Session) rewrote § 17D-4-2 so that, beginning January 1, 2016, proof of financial responsibility means $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage, up from 20/40/10. A policy in force on December 31, 2015 at the old limits stayed good only until it expired or renewed, so no West Virginia policy carries 20/40/10 today. The same act relieved insurers of having to make a fresh uninsured or underinsured motorist offer when limits rose only to meet the new minimum.
Enrolled Committee Substitute for HB 2790, 2015 Regular Session (West Virginia Legislature)

2015

August 1, 2015 · North Dakota
SR-22
Proof of insurance after a no-insurance violation dropped from three years to one
House Bill 1391 of the 64th Legislative Assembly amended subsection 5 of N.D.C.C. § 39-08-20 so that the certificate of insurance a driver must keep on file with the Department of Transportation after driving without liability insurance runs for "one year" instead of "three years". The bill passed 92-1 and 45-1 and took effect August 1, 2015. This is the single most commonly misstated fact about North Dakota filings — and the state's own Insurance Department still says three years on its consumer auto page. The parallel financial responsibility law, N.D.C.C. § 39-16.1-19, likewise lets the director release a filing any time after one year, so no ordinary North Dakota driver carries a three-year filing requirement.
Enrolled House Bill No. 1391, 64th Legislative Assembly of North Dakota
August 1, 2015 · North Dakota
Driving uninsured
Driving uninsured stopped being a criminal infraction and became a fixed $150 fee
Senate Bill 2211 of the 64th Legislative Assembly rewrote N.D.C.C. § 39-08-20 and subsection 2 of § 39-06.1-06 together. The sentence in § 39-08-20(4) making a violation "an infraction" carrying a non-suspendable fine of "at least one hundred fifty dollars" was deleted; it does not appear in the current section, which now covers only plate impoundment on a second offense. In its place, subdivision (l) of § 39-06.1-06(2) sets a flat statutory fee of $150 for a first violation and $300 for a second or subsequent violation within three years, payable as a noncriminal disposition. The act also replaced "convicted" with "in violation" throughout the section. The practical effect is that driving uninsured in North Dakota is a noncriminal moving violation with a fixed price, not a criminal charge with a discretionary fine — and the $150 is not a floor that a court can exceed. House Bill 1294 of the 2025 session reopened the same fee schedule and left the $150/$300 figures untouched, so they remain current.
Enrolled Senate Bill No. 2211, 64th Legislative Assembly of North Dakota
July 1, 2015 · Mississippi
Moving here
Annual safety inspection sticker abolished
House Bill 982 (Ch. 417, Laws of 2015) repealed Sections 63-13-1 through 63-13-29 — the whole Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Law — ending the yearly inspection sticker. What survives is narrower: the Commissioner of Public Safety still licenses official tint inspection stations, at a $10 permit fee, so a vehicle with aftermarket window tint needs a one-time check against the 28 percent light transmittance rule. New residents face no periodic inspection of any kind.
Mississippi Legislature — House Bill 982 (2015), Ch. 417, as sent to the Governor
January 1, 2015 · Illinois
Minimum coverage
Minimum liability limits last rose to 25/50/20 — and have not moved since
625 ILCS 5/7-203 states that the changes made by the 98th General Assembly apply to policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2015. That is still the current text: $25,000 per person, $50,000 per crash, $20,000 property damage, last amended by P.A. 102-982 (a terminology change, effective July 1, 2023). A widely repeated claim that Illinois moved to 30/60/25 on January 1, 2025 is false — no such act was passed. A 2025 bill (HB 0066, 104th General Assembly) proposes 50/100/40, but it has not been enacted.
Illinois General Assembly — 625 ILCS 5/7-203

2013

August 16, 2013 · Arkansas
SR-22
The three-year term for an Arkansas SR-22 was repealed and never replaced
Act 1142 of 2013 (HB1715), a cleanup bill for obsolete provisions in Title 27, repealed Arkansas Code § 27-19-721. That was the section that told the Office of Driver Services to consent to cancellation of a bond or certificate of insurance, or waive the filing requirement, "at any time after three (3) years from the date the proof was required" if no disqualifying conviction had come in during those three years. The same Act repealed § 27-19-717 (cash or securities as an alternative proof), § 27-19-719 (substitution of proof) and § 27-19-720 (other proof may be required). Nothing was put in their place. What is left of the subchapter says only that a driver whose license was suspended or revoked must "give and thereafter maintain" proof of financial responsibility for the future (§ 27-19-703(b)), and the department's own rules on the SR-22 (27 CAR §§ 30-182 through 30-185) set no term either. Comparison sites that state flatly that an Arkansas SR-22 must be carried for three years are quoting a statute that has not existed since August 16, 2013.
Arkansas State Legislature — Acts 2013, No. 1142 (HB1715), enrolled
July 1, 2013 · New Mexico
Driving uninsured
Producing valid proof in court now defeats a no-insurance charge
Laws 2013, ch. 204, § 4 added Subsection F to NMSA 1978, § 66-5-205: a person charged with driving or permitting the operation of an uninsured vehicle shall not be convicted if the person produces, in court, evidence of financial responsibility that was valid when the citation was issued. The same amendment deleted the express "fine not to exceed three hundred dollars" from the section and replaced it with a cross-reference to the general misdemeanor penalty in § 66-8-7, which is still a $300 ceiling plus up to 90 days.
NMSA 1978, § 66-5-205 (2013 amendment annotation) — Chapter 66, current compilation
July 1, 2013 · Wyoming
Crash reporting
Wyoming abolished the driver's written crash report, and made an online insurance hit count as proof of financial responsibility
House Bill 152 of the 2013 general session (Enrolled Act No. 86, Chapter 102, Laws of Wyoming 2013, effective July 1, 2013) is the reason Wyoming has no crash report form for drivers to file. Its Section 3 repealed Wyo. Stat. § 31-5-1106(a) and (b), § 31-5-1107(a) and (c), § 31-5-1108(d), § 31-5-1110(a) and § 31-7-128(d) — the provisions that had required a person involved in a crash to file a written report and that suspended a license for not filing one. Section 2 then cleaned up the survivors, deleting "persons involved in accidents and by" from the description of who makes written reports in § 31-5-1108(a). Since that date the only written crash report in Wyoming law is the investigating officer's, due to the highway department within ten days. The same act created § 31-9-110, which says a person "shall be considered to have provided and filed proof of financial responsibility whenever a search of the online insurance verification system or other verification system provides proof of financial responsibility" — an unusual provision that lets the state's own database satisfy an SR-22 style filing obligation. This matters for anyone reading older guidance: sources that describe a Wyoming driver's duty to mail in a crash report are describing a rule that ended over a decade ago.
House Bill 152 (2013), Enrolled Act No. 86, House of Representatives, Chapter 102, Laws of Wyoming 2013 — enrolled bill
March 20, 2013 · Mississippi
SR-22
Post-crash security deposits repealed
House Bill 1277 (Ch. 389, Laws of 2013) repealed Sections 63-15-11 through 63-15-21, which had required a driver in a reportable crash to deposit security for the damages — cash, securities or a bond — or lose their license and registration. That regime is gone, yet it is still described in the Department of Public Safety's own driver's manual, which tells readers they may prove ability to pay with a $15,000 certificate of deposit or a corporate surety bond. What remains after a crash is simpler: if your insurance is not shown on the accident report, the Driver Service Bureau gives you 60 days to send proof, and a driver at fault in a crash while uninsured must file an SR-22 and keep it in force for three years.
Mississippi Legislature — House Bill 1277 (2013), Ch. 389, as sent to the Governor
January 1, 2013 · Alabama
Coverage lapse
Insurance verified electronically before a plate is issued
Under Act 2011-688, from January 1, 2013 county license plate issuing officials check the Online Insurance Verification System (OIVS) at every registration and renewal, and only ask for an insurance card when the lookup fails. The same system lets the Department of Revenue re-check registrations at any time; when it cannot confirm coverage it mails the registrant a notice with 30 days to respond, and the registration is suspended if the answer does not establish continuous coverage.
Alabama Department of Revenue

2012

February 9, 2012 · Alaska
Moving here
Alaska's last emissions test disappeared in 2012
Alaska used to run vehicle inspection and maintenance programs for carbon monoxide in the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage, and passing one was a condition of registering a vehicle there. EPA approved Alaska's request to drop the Fairbanks program effective April 21, 2010, and the Anchorage program effective February 9, 2012, in both cases converting the program from an active control measure to a contingency measure that could be reinstated if carbon monoxide levels climbed again. Alaska DMV stopped requiring an emissions test to register a vehicle anywhere in the state on March 1, 2012. Anchorage now meets the federal standard for all six criteria pollutants. Third-party guides that still tell newcomers to budget for an Anchorage emissions test are repeating a rule that ended more than a decade ago.
77 FR 1414 (Jan. 10, 2012) — Approval and Promulgation of State Implementation Plans: Alaska

2011

November 1, 2011 · Oklahoma
Fault system
No pay, no play: an uninsured plaintiff loses pain and suffering
SB 272 (2011) added 47 O.S. § 7-116. A plaintiff or claimant who was not in compliance with the Compulsory Insurance Law at the time of the crash is limited to medical costs, property damage and lost income, with no award for pain and suffering — and the at-fault driver's liability insurer can assert the limit too. The exceptions are broad enough to matter: a drunk driver who is convicted or dies in the crash, an intentional crash, a hit-and-run, a driver acting in furtherance of a felony, a passenger who does not own the vehicle, anyone who was not in a vehicle at all, wrongful death claims, a dependent whose parents were the ones uninsured, and a policyholder canceled for nonpayment who got less than 30 days' notice.
Oklahoma Legislature — SB 272 (2011), enrolled

2010

July 1, 2010 · New Jersey
Moving here
Safety inspections ended for passenger cars
P.L.2010, c.29, effective July 1, 2010, amended N.J.S.A. 39:8-1 so passenger automobiles and non-commercial trucks are inspected only for emissions and emissions-related items such as emission control equipment and on-board diagnostics.
P.L.2010, c.29 (approved June 29, 2010)

2009

November 1, 2009 · Oklahoma
SR-22
Oklahoma abolished the insurer-filed certificate — there has been no SR-22 since 2009
Section 41 of SB 1161 (2009) repealed 47 O.S. §§ 7-321, 7-322 and 7-323. Section 7-321 was the SR-22 in all but name: "Proof of financial responsibility required by this article may be furnished by filing with the Department the written certificate of any insurance carrier ... certifying that there is in effect a motor vehicle liability policy for the benefit of the person required to furnish proof." With those sections gone, 47 O.S. § 7-320 leaves only three ways to give proof — a security verification form, a deposit of money or securities, or a certificate of self-insurance — and the first of those is simply the insurance card the carrier already issues. There is no filing the driver must keep on the state's books for a set number of years, and the Oklahoma Insurance Department and Department of Public Safety describe the reinstatement requirement as a security verification form bearing an actual policy number rather than a certificate. Guides that quote an "Oklahoma SR-22" with a three-year term are describing a mechanism the state has not had since November 1, 2009.
Oklahoma Legislature — SB 1161 (2009), enrolled

2003

July 1, 2003 · Colorado
Fault system
No-fault repealed — Colorado went back to an at-fault (tort) system
The Colorado Auto Accident Reparations Act — the no-fault law in force since 1974 — expired on July 1, 2003 under its own sunset clause (C.R.S. § 10-4-726, set by the 2002 legislature). House Bill 03-1188 (ch. 234, 2003 Colo. Sess. Laws, approved May 2, 2003) started the compulsory liability scheme now in part 6 of article 4 of title 10 on the same day, applying to policies written on or after that date. PIP benefits stopped being part of Colorado auto policies; the at-fault driver's liability insurer pays instead, and medical payments coverage of $5,000 is offered in PIP's place. Guides that still describe Colorado as a no-fault state are more than twenty years out of date. A 2024 bill (SB24-133) proposed studying a return to no-fault; it failed.
Colorado Session Laws 2003, ch. 234 (HB 03-1188)

2001

June 4, 2001 · Oklahoma
Moving here
The periodic vehicle safety and anti-tampering inspection program was repealed
Section 9 of HB 1081 (2001) repealed 47 O.S. §§ 851, 854, 855, 855.1, 856, 856.1, 856.2, 858 and 859, the core of Title 47's mechanical inspection chapter; the rest of the chapter is repealed as well, and nothing has replaced it. The act's own effective date of July 1, 2001 was moved up to June 4, 2001 by HB 1308 of the same session. The emissions anti-tampering inspection that applied in EPA-designated nonattainment areas went with it — the implementing rule, OAC 595 Chapter 20, stayed in Oklahoma's federal State Implementation Plan only until February 26, 2009. The only inspection a vehicle owner meets today is a physical check of the vehicle identification number when titling a vehicle previously titled in another state.
Oklahoma Legislature — HB 1081 (2001), enrolled

2000

June 14, 2000 · Florida
Moving here
Motor vehicle emissions inspection program repealed
SB 772 (ch. 2000-266) repealed the provisions requiring inspection of motor vehicle exhaust emissions. Florida has had no state emissions testing program since June 14, 2000.
Florida Senate — SB 772 (2000)

1998

July 1, 1998 · New Mexico
SR-22
New Mexico abolished the SR-22 certificate filing
Laws 1998, ch. 34, § 19 repealed NMSA 1978, § 66-5-219, the certificate-of-insurance provision that other states still use as the SR-22, and the same act struck the certified motor vehicle liability policy from the list of acceptable filings in § 66-5-218. Since then the only ways to give evidence of financial responsibility in New Mexico are an ordinary insurance policy, a surety bond, or a cash deposit with the state treasurer. Insurers, agents and comparison sites that sell or describe a New Mexico SR-22 are describing a form the state stopped using more than twenty-five years ago.
NMSA 1978, §§ 66-5-218 and 66-5-219 (repealed) — Chapter 66, current compilation

1994

January 1, 1994 · Connecticut
Fault system
No-fault insurance repealed; Connecticut returned to a tort system
P.A. 93-297, approved July 1, 1993, was an outright repeal, not a sunset: section 28 of the act repealed Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 38a-365 to 38a-369, 38a-373 to 38a-378, 38a-380 to 38a-384 and 38a-386, and section 29 set that repealer to take effect January 1, 1994. Gone with those sections was the mandatory $5,000 basic reparations (PIP) benefit and the restriction on suing the at-fault driver. The same act created underinsured motorist conversion coverage (§ 38a-336a) and the informed consent form for reducing uninsured and underinsured motorist limits. Thirty years on, guides and comparison sites still describe Connecticut as a no-fault state.
Connecticut General Assembly — Public Act 93-297

1957

February 1, 1957 · New York
SR-22
New York abolished proof-of-financial-responsibility filings — there is no SR-22
Veh. & Traf. Law § 346 provides that on and after February 1, 1957 no person shall be required to file or maintain proof of financial responsibility under the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act. New York has never adopted the SR-22 in its place. Compliance is verified instead by the insurer, which files the policy and any notice of termination with DMV electronically under §§ 312-a and 313. Sites that list SR-22 filing periods or SR-22 filing fees for New York are wrong.
N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 346 (NYS Open Legislation)