The state Senate Insurance Committee is taking on the insurance industry regarding this coverage.
California wildfire insurance was a hot topic, so to speak, between insurers and the State Insurance Committee. The committee is chaired by Senator Steve Glazer (D), widely considered to be the most moderate senator in the upper house.
The Senate Insurance Committee voted on to bills that will dictate the future of wildfire coverage.
The vote took place on Friday for the two bills. These bills were designed to make significant changes to the way California wildfire insurance is covered for homeowners by insurers. The measures were proposed as a result of the devastation left behind by last year’s brushfire season.
Furthermore, the majority of predictions agree that wildfires will only worsen in coming seasons in the state. The frequency of blazes, their sizes and the damage they leave behind are expected to rise.
Insurance companies were doing their best to step in the path of both California wildfire insurance bills.
The insurance industry argued that this legislation would make it more challenging for insurers to be able to operate in the state. The outcome, they said, would be that many companies would be forced to increase premiums.
“The only complaints that I hear are from the insurance corporations,” said Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg). McGuire is the author of one of the two wildfire insurance bills. “The ones that I care about are those who lost their homes to the most destructive and deadly wildfires in modern American history.”
McGuire wrote Senate Bill 897. It would make it necessary for wildfire insurance companies to pay for a minimum of 80 percent of the policy’s limit for possessions lost in the fire. At the moment, insurers are required to pay for only the items a homeowner is able to itemize. The purpose of this measure would be to bring the insurance policy payments closer to the amount policyholders actually lost regardless of the price tag linked with the destroyed items.
Senate Bill 894 was written by Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa). That bill would create an insurance company requirement to renew a property owner’s policy for a minimum of 24 months following the destruction of a home by wildfire. This new California wildfire insurance regulation would also make it possible for homeowners to establish different policy limits for homes and other structures on the property as well as contents and living expenses.