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State insurance official outlines wildfire-related reforms, urges faster claims handling for homeowners
Summary
At a Chino Hills City Council meeting, California Department of Insurance outreach analyst Judith Pina summarized market pressures—rising reinsurance and rebuilding costs—and described pending bills (including AB 1795, SB 876 and AB 1680) intended to standardize smoke-damage restoration, speed payments and strengthen oversight of the FAIR Plan.
Judith Pina, an outreach analyst with the California Department of Insurance, told the Chino Hills City Council on May 7 that the insurance market is under intense pressure from more frequent wildfires, higher rebuilding costs and rising reinsurance prices, leaving some homeowners without traditional policies.
Pina said the FAIR Plan, created as a last-resort mechanism, “has grown significantly” and that the department has seen coverage gaps, slow claims handling and disputes over smoke damage. “Through our investigations, we have recovered over $23,000,000,000 for consumers and about $50,000,000 of that was related to smoke damage,” she said, describing smoke claims as one of the largest complaint categories.
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