A rumored legislative deal aimed at keeping home insurance companies from bailing on California is dead now that the deadline for a bill has passed. But a consumer group that has been attacking what it called a back-room insurance bailout plan warned Tuesday that those secret talks with the state’s Insurance Commissioner haven’t ended.
“If you believe that narrative, you are being fooled, the insurance industry did not draft an end of session legislative proposal,” said Rex Frazier, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California. He added that insurers would be stupid to pull back business in the state if they were making massive profits. “Maybe there are actually economic reasons for these insurer actions.”
“I have always been clear, legislation is one of many options that we have been pursuing,” Lara said. “We also are moving forward with a package of regulatory solutions that will streamline the department’s rate review process, opening it equitably to public input — not just the entrenched interests that have benefited materially from the status quo. We will continue moving forward.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, a New York industry information association, California acreage burned by wildfires has grown over the last decade, more people are living in fire-risk areas, and rising costs of repairing or replacing damaged homes have led to increased insured losses.