RCRC has expressed support for Senate Bill 1060, authored by Senator Josh Becker. This measure places new requirements on risk models employed by insurers for the purposes of underwriting property insurance.
Specifically, SB 1060 (Becker) would aid residents looking to keep or obtain insurance policies in high wildfire risk areas by requiring insurers to employ risk models for underwriting purposes that account for wildfire risk reduction associated with hazardous fuel reduction, home hardening, defensible space, and fire prevention activities at both the parcel level as well as community wide. By utilizing models that more correctly account for community- and parcel-level mitigation efforts, insurers will have a more complete picture of the actual wildfire risk of each property owner, which will enable them to make more informed decision about renewals, rate-setting and market saturation.
In the past decade, RCRC member counties have a disproportionate percentage of residents whose residential property insurance has been nonrenewed due to wildfire risk. A large majority of our communities are in high or very high hazard severity zones and have seen both dramatic premium increases and drastic spikes in non-renewals even though rural communities statewide have spent billions of dollars on wildfire mitigation efforts. While many rural residents understand that higher costs for coverage will be the new standard under higher wildfire threats, many of them have had to resort to the FAIR Plan for fire insurance coverage and have been effectively priced out of California’s whole-home coverage market. RCRC supports transparency and increased oversight of the modeling practices used by insurers to issue and rate policies for homeowners across California.
SB 1060 passed the Senate Insurance Committee on Wednesday, April 24, and now awaits action in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC thanks Board Member and Napa County Supervisor, Anne Cottrell, for testifying on behalf of RCRC member counties in support of the bill.
RCRC’s letter of support is available here. For more information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, Staci Heaton.