Measure addressing California fire insurance crisis advances in Senate
PLACERVILLE - The Senate Committee on Insurance passed a bill Wednesday that lawmakers said will address the cost and availability of fire insurance in California.
Senate Bill 1060, or the Fire Insurance Risk Evaluation (FIRE) Act, would require property insurers to consider wildfire mitigation efforts when setting the price of insurance for homeowners.
"We have to recognize that this is a crisis. People are losing insurance every day or the exorbitant markups in their insurance. So we have to start treating it like a crisis," said Senator Josh Becker, who proposed the measure.
Lorianna McArthur said she currently has two homes in El Dorado County.
"Now in this house, I am paying $3,100 a year. The other house that we have, we were paying about $2,500," McArthur said.
She said she is currently under the California FAIR Plan after being dropped from Mercury Insurance on one of her homes.
"We have cut down a lot of the trees. We would send in pictures and they would say 'You're still not compliant.' We went back and forth, back and forth," McArthur said.
She said they spent about $2,500 removing trees just to be dropped from their insurance policy anyway.
McArthur said her son works for the firefighter's "Hot Shot" crew in El Dorado County and would like to buy a home of his own in the area, but can't because of the cost of fire insurance.
"For the first time, I'm actually afraid. I'm afraid that I might have to sell. If my insurance goes up any more, I'm going to have to sell and leave California," McArthur said.
The measure passed in a 3-2 vote Wednesday, which is something Senator Becker says is a step in the right direction and gives credit to homeowners like McArthur for her mitigation efforts.
"Our counties are doing the work, we want to make sure that work gets reflected in the underwriting models of insurance companies and that is what this bill is about," Senator Becker said.
The measure now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee for their consideration.