California Legislature Rejects Governor’s Wildfire Insurance Proposals

N. lake Ave in Altadena (Photo – W.K.)

Every Fire Survivor’s Network and Consumer Watchdog praised the California Senate and Assembly today after lawmakers rejected Governor Newsom’s proposals affecting wildfire survivors and insurance policyholders.

By News Desk

The Legislature refused to adopt a proposal that would have required insurance policyholders to pay more for fires caused by utilities. Lawmakers also rejected a plan to limit insurance companies’ subrogation recoveries and declined to cap the damages wildfire victims can recover.

According to the groups, the governor’s proposal to restrict insurance companies’ recoveries could have cost policyholders hundreds of dollars more per year, while homeowners in high-risk areas could have faced annual increases of thousands of dollars. Supporters of the proposal said the changes were intended to address insurers’ potential exposure and help stabilize the insurance market.

“We are profoundly grateful to the legislators who stood up for real fire survivors,” said Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network. “They rejected nearly all of the governor’s original bailout terms, including his attacks on survivors’ rights to recover economic and noneconomic damages and his devastating proposal to deny recovery to smoke-damage survivors outside an artificial fire-perimeter line. Preserving these rights is an enormous victory for all Californians.”

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, said lawmakers had rejected most of the governor’s end-of-session proposal.

“This appears to be a big victory for consumers and survivors,” Court said. “The leadership of the Senate and Assembly deserves enormous credit for standing up to the governor and his utility allies. Under intense political pressure, they did the right thing and stood with the real wildfire survivors and insurance policyholders who would have been harmed by the governor’s policies.”