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Insurance commissioner: California’s sustainable insurance strategy showing early signs of stabilizing market after urban wildfires
Summary
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara told the Assembly Insurance Committee the department’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy has produced faster claims payments, five approved SIS filings and other indicators of market stabilization; he said visible consumer relief could appear in 12–24 months, with structural recovery over 3–5 years.
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara told the California State Assembly Insurance Committee that the department’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy (SIS) is producing measurable progress after the state’s recent urban wildfires, citing faster claims handling, billions in payments to survivors and new insurer commitments to write in high‑risk areas.
"Insurance cannot do it alone," Lara said, adding that the SIS gave the department "the tools, the authority, and the commitments we needed" to prevent a deeper market collapse. Lara said insurers have paid about $22.4 billion to wildfire survivors, compared with roughly $6 billion from federal, state and local sources, and that 94% of 4,121 claims have been paid fully or partially. He also told the committee that claim closure time is down 27% since mid‑2025 and that $210 million has been returned to consumers through department investigations.
Lara highlighted that five SIS homeowner filings have been approved since the last hearing and named several participating insurers: Mercury Insurance, CSAA Insurance Group, USAA group companies, Pacific Specialty and…
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