On November 14, 2024, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara submitted the wildfire catastrophe-modeling regulation to the Office of Administrative Law — a core piece of the Sustainable Insurance Strategy. For the first time California would let homeowners and commercial insurers price wildfire with forward-looking models, the way every other state already had.
The catch is the one that matters in a distressed ZIP: companies that use the models, or that put reinsurance cost into the rate, must write comprehensive policies in wildfire-distressed areas equal to at least 85% of their statewide market share, then grow that share. There had been no legal requirement to write those areas at all.
Allstate and Farmers had already said they would look at expanding when the package landed. That is not the same as a new HO-3 in every canyon. Mitigation still counts. Brush clearance, Class-A roof, and the Safer from Wildfires discounts are how a file gets offered instead of declined.
If this is on your renewal, call the office at (619) 420-8600 or start a quote. We will tell you what the market will actually write.
Sources: CDI, November 14, 2024.