Wildfire insurance is becoming enough of a hot potato for California’s Democratic leaders to share the pain.
Firefighters work to keep flames from spreading through the Shadowbrook apartment complex as a wildfire burns through Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 9, 2018. | Noah Berger/AP PhotoSACRAMENTO, Calif. — The slow-motion collapse of California’s wildfire insurance market is about to force a political reckoning.
The moves would likely raise insurance premiums, opening elected officials up to attacks from consumer advocates who have wielded enough political influence to keep the state’s rates among the lowest in the nation. But pressure is growing as nonrenewals have spread into the Southern California suburbs. And more lawmakers themselves are now being affected.
Newsom and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara are also involved in the talks, according to three people close to the discussions whom POLITICO agreed not to name because the talks are ongoing. Lara, who held a hearing last month on the possibility of allowing forward-looking rate models, said in a statement that he would “pursue legislative action” if needed.
The group is pushing to require the state’s last-resort insurer, the FAIR Plan, to increase its coverage of multi-family units like condominiums, and to charge all insurance customers a fee to cover the increased risk to the plan.
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