Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

2 hours ago

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

4 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

7 hours ago

Elon Musk Says Senate Bill Would Destroy Jobs and Harm US

7 hours ago

Israel Strikes Pound Gaza, Killing 60, Ahead of US Talks on Ceasefire

8 hours ago

Trump’s Administration Finds Harvard Violated Students’ Civil Rights, WSJ Reports

9 hours ago

How Did the Supreme Court Rule? Here’s a Look at the Big Cases

2 days ago
California Lawmakers Fiddling While State's Fire Insurance Crisis Worsens
By admin
Published 2 years ago on
August 16, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

As the Legislature reconvenes this week for the final month of its 2023 session, it will be deciding the fate of hundreds of remaining bills.

Dan Walters with a serious expression

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

It would be fair, if a bit cynical, to say that California could survive quite nicely if 90% of them never made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

It would be equally fair and cynical to say that the session will adjourn in September without effectively dealing with some very serious, even existential, issues that adversely affect the lives of those legislators are sworn to serve.

The housing crisis is one. Another session will end without addressing misuse of the California Environmental Quality Act to stall or kill much-needed housing projects. Newsom persuaded the Legislature to reform CEQA’s effects of public works projects, but is apparently unwilling to take on the heavy lift of reforming its impact on housing.

As the housing crisis persists, it forces ever-more low-income Californians out of homes and apartments and into the streets, thus worsening the nation’s worst – by far – homelessness crisis that the Californians put at the top of their concerns.

Legislators and Newsom, besot with ideological commitments to criminal justice reform, are loath to crack down on the criminals that are terrorizing merchants and residents of the state’s major cities. One of the pending measures, Senate Bill 553, would compel employers to implement plans to mitigate violence against their workers, facing fines and potential lawsuits for failure. Business groups complain that it would wrongly blame employers, rather than criminals, for invasive attacks.

There are many other issues being ignored, and one of the more important is a developing crisis in home insurance coverage as one-by-one, insurers shun the California market, saying that wildfires, construction costs and other factors are creating more financial exposure than they can cover with premiums.

As California homeowners become unable to find coverage from the private market, more are forced into the state’s FAIR program as a last resort, with high premiums and limits on coverage.

Insurers complain that the Department of Insurance doesn’t allow them to include forward-looking catastrophic modeling in their rates, requiring them to base premiums only on past experiences. Nor are they allowed to include the costs of reinsurance, which insurers use to mitigate potential liability.

No Proposals Emerge From Hearing

An Assembly committee conducted a hearing into the crisis and the viability of catastrophe modeling two months ago. A staff report noted that “eight of California’s top 20 wildfires have occurred in the last half-dozen years, burning 8,512 structures,” with “the top three largest fires – the August Complex fire in 2020, the Dixie fire in 2021, and the Mendocino Complex fire in 2018 – burned a collective 2.45 million acres and destroyed 2,526 structures.”

The list of disastrous wildfires didn’t include the 2018 Camp Fire that was relatively small in acreage, but wiped out the town of Paradise, destroyed more than 18,800 structures, caused 85 deaths and resulted in more than $16.5 billion in losses.

Despite the peril posed by wildfires and the ever-worsening insurance availability crisis, the net result of the hearing was that everybody thought something should be done, but nothing concrete emerged.

One factor is a change in the Department of Insurance that voters decreed 35 years ago, making the insurance commissioner an elective office. The ambitious politicians who win the position feel pressure to keep premiums as low as possible, even if they drive insurers out of the state.

Consumer groups oppose forward-looking catastrophic modeling – which is used for earthquake insurance – because it would almost certainly boost fire insurance premiums.

It’s a tradeoff between insurance availability and insurance costs that cannot be, politically, a win-win situation.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more columns by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to rreed@gvwire.com for consideration. 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

DON'T MISS

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

DON'T MISS

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

DON'T MISS

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

DON'T MISS

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

DON'T MISS

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

DON'T MISS

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

DON'T MISS

DOJ Announces Arrest, Indictments in North Korean IT Worker Scheme

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Arrested in Clovis for Sex-Related Crimes Against Minor

UP NEXT

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

UP NEXT

Dyer’s Lobbying Works. Fresno Gets $100M for Downtown From State

UP NEXT

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Sues Los Angeles Over Immigration Enforcement

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Says Senate Bill Would Destroy Jobs and Harm US

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

US to Restart Trade Negotiations With Canada Immediately, White House Says

UP NEXT

Trump’s Administration Finds Harvard Violated Students’ Civil Rights, WSJ Reports

UP NEXT

US Supreme Court to Hear Republican Challenge to ‘Coordinated’ Campaign Spending Curbs

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Order Related to Syria Sanctions Easing, CBS News Reports

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

1 hour ago

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

1 hour ago

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

1 hour ago

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

2 hours ago

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

2 hours ago

DOJ Announces Arrest, Indictments in North Korean IT Worker Scheme

2 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Clovis for Sex-Related Crimes Against Minor

2 hours ago

Dyer’s Lobbying Works. Fresno Gets $100M for Downtown From State

2 hours ago

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

2 hours ago

S&P 500, Nasdaq Close at Record Highs, Cap Best Quarter in Over a Year

3 hours ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

WASHINGTON – Billionaire Elon Musk on Monday renewed his criticism of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bil...

36 minutes ago

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. (Reuters File)
36 minutes ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

51 minutes ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

Bryan Koberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, listens during a hearing to overturn his grand jury indictment in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., October 26, 2023. (Reuters File)
53 minutes ago

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

The Blanca Fire, burning 12 acres northwest of Lake Madera Country Estates in Madera County, remains active with 0% containment and no reported injuries or structural damage as the cause is under investigation as of Monday, June 30, 2025. (CalFire)
1 hour ago

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

Fresno County CHP arrested two on Interstate 5 after finding about one kilogram of suspected cocaine, a loaded ghost gun, and counterfeit money during a vehicle search on Sunday, June 29, 2025. (CHP)
1 hour ago

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

Gov. Newsom warns Californians to celebrate the Fourth of July safely, emphasizing zero tolerance for illegal fireworks which have surged to over 600,000 pounds seized this year. (Shutterstock)
1 hour ago

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

2 hours ago

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend