State-by-State Certificate of Insurance Requirements Guide: 2026 Compliance Map

Your contractor's insurance expired 21 days ago, and your property team missed the renewal alert. Yesterday, his crew fell through a roof, and today, OSHA's asking for documentation. Right now, you're discovering the gap.

You need an automated certificate of insurance (COI) tracking system to avoid that.

But insurance policy and limit requirements can vary dramatically across state lines. Most states do not have formal legal “COI Requirements” BUT states do have varying insurance coverage laws.

• Certificates of insurance (COIs) are documents used to show a party has insurance.
• States generally do not prescribe specific COI formats or statewide mandatory COI insurance minimums for contractors. What matters is the underlying insurance coverage it evidences.

Nearly all states require employers to have workers’ compensation insurance once they have employees, though the employee count threshold and exemptions vary dramatically by state.

States set their own rules for minimum coverage, exemptions, and enforcement for workers’ comp. Texas is often the only state without a mandatory workers’ comp requirement, other states have some form of requirement.

Risk managers face COI tracking requirements across dozens of jurisdictions for hundreds of vendor relationships in construction. One gap creates cascading exposure. Not only do you need to know which requirements apply to which projects, but you also need a vendor verification platform that does it for you automatically.

For many states:

• Contractor licensing boards may require proof of insurance (liability, workers’ comp) to issue or renew licenses, and they may accept a COI as proof.
• Specific liability minimums (e.g., $1,000,000 in Oregon) are set by the licensing authority or statute.
• Coverage requirements often differ by trade (e.g., plumbing vs. general contractor), project type (public works vs. private), and local jurisdictions.

Construction Contractor Requirements

*These are guidelines for certificate of insurance requirements for general contractors and are not considered legal advice. Approximate guidelines based on publicly available sources; confirm with state statute, regulators, or counsel before relying on these figures.

Automated Multi-State, Multi-Industry COI Tracking

Managing certificates across multiple states, industries, and hundreds of vendors creates impossible manual demands. Some construction firms track subcontractors across 15 states. Commercial portfolios can span 30+ jurisdictions with different cycles.

Missing one New York renewal? Seven-figure exposure. Overlooking Florida's hurricane endorsement? Shutdown. Subcontractors failing to complete Utah’s pre-licensing education programs leave your construction company vulnerable.

Managing these 50 different requirement sets manually? That's where tracking systems break. Virginia Class A contractors working on Tennessee projects with California subs face three different WC thresholds, four licensing bodies, and five bond requirements. Manual COI tracking with spreadsheets can't adjust requirements automatically by jurisdiction.

AI-powered, leading COI tracking platform bcs automates multi-state, multi-industry contractor verification for you:

• bcs COI Tracking software reviews certificates across all 50 states. Instant color-coded feedback catches gaps instantly.
• 78,000+ vendor network means contractors already in-system provide certificates without logins.
• 99.7% compliance accuracy eliminates manual tracking across construction sites. Virginia Class A contractors, Rhode Island CRLB requirements, multi-state portfolios—automated tracking catches everything.
• 15 hours of labor becomes 2 hours weekly for multi-state risk managers. Construction managing 200+ subs across 20 states, commercial landlords handling mixed-use developments eliminate manual spreadsheets.

Track construction in all 50 states with one system.

Ready to eliminate manual COI tracking? Request a demo to see how bcs handles compliance management for your industry, or try free COI tracking to experience automated certificate tracking firsthand.

Frequently Asked Questions